Dark Hope
by Denthasus
Summary: Digimon Adventure 02: The peace of the Digital World becomes disturbed when the Darkness rises again to take away a member of the team.
1. Prologue

My first fanfiction ever. I don't really expect to be good since I have only the main idea in my head. Details are something I have to work on...

* * *

~TAICHI~

I looked at my little sister desperately. She was angry, but I didn't know what had her riled up so much. I looked around our dark surroundings. There was only one other with us.

I looked at him, or it. I couldn't really tell because _it_ was a part of the darkness. Hikari just stared out into it while I braced myself to protect her if I had to.

"Hikari," I said in a soft whisper, "we have to get out of here."

"No, Taichi. I won't leave my best friend in there!" She stared out into the dark massive figure.

"Really? What if he wants to belong here? The Darkness isn't allowed to have hope?" The mass seemed to sneer at us.

A chill ran up my spine. I was supposed to be Courage, yet I was scared. No! I can't let this thing get to me. I opened my mouth to speak but I was silenced with fear as the thing came out of the shadows. I couldn't make out the details of his face, but I know we knew each other. Like he was someone I knew I could trust with my life.

"Weren't you going to say something, Tai?" He was mocking me and I couldn't do anything.

Frozen in fear, I could only just stare with my mouth open like an idiot. He continued. "You can't hurt me? I would think Courage would have taken over to protect his dear sister!" He laughed at me and Hikari vanished from my side.

"No!" I finally managed.

At that moment, I woke up in a frenzy. The sky was still dark out and I heard a groan from the top bunk. "Taichi?"

"It's okay, Hikari. Just a small nightmare. Go back to sleep," I whispered in assurance.

"Okay." I waited until she was fully asleep.

I stared at the bottom of her bed, thinking about the mysterious dark figure.

* * *

~YAMATO~

I looked at Taichi in despair. He looked like he was about to cry and what was I doing? Nothing… Nothing to help my best friend when he needed me the most.

TK was better at this. My little brother always did his best to make sure others were alright. I try but I don't think I'm a very good friend. Not right now anyways. Everything negative that I forced out of my mind years ago were coming back to haunt me.

"Taichi…"

He looked up at me. Tears filled his eyes. "I have to save Hikari."

"You can't save her if you're going to be putting yourself in danger," I said.

He flared up. "What about you? You lost your brother!" He marched away, but turned back. "Wouldn't TK want you to help save him? Some friend you are."

The remark stung. Of course, I would do anything to save my little brother. Just like Tai would do anything to save Kari. And I was a good friend, wasn't I? And is it the right thing to do to let my friend risk his life to the unknown? Friendship should be doing what's best for them.

I didn't really notice the surrounding darkness. It just felt natural here. Something I was very uncomfortable with.

A soft voice was flowing through the area. A very familiar voice that I would used to hear from… who? "What's wrong, Matt? Don't you want to be the best friend everyone can have? Or are you really just looking after yourself? Even your brother isn't your friend."

I watched as the Digidestined appeared and disappeared around me. Tai and TK were lingering around me the longest. Tai with his grim smile filled with determination. I couldn't make out TK's face. It was partly hidden in the darkness.

Tai vanished and left me alone with my brother. I won't lose my Friendship with him, ever.

"Really? I understand, but what if he doesn't want it?"

I fell into the darkness and woke up, sweaty. I looked around the guest room of my mom's apartment. I stared at the family picture I had set up on the nightstand. There was a crack in the glass. Right between me and TK.

I immediately grabbed the frame and stared at it. I would have to take this as a sign. I'll keep a very close eye on my brother. No matter how grown up he is he'll always be my little brother. I'll do anything to protect him and my other friends.

I picked up my cell phone and called my girlfriend. Hopefully she'd understand why I called so late.

* * *

~SORA~

I was with the other girls of our group. Mimi, Hikari, and Miyako sat with me on the picnic bench, watching the others goof off.

All of us felt like a family together. Each of us had a special job. I was like the mother, caring for everyone. Yamato was the father figure of our group. Taichi was the oldest brother who would protect all of us from danger. Jou was the doctor care for us. Mimi was the oldest sister who looked out and would voice her own opinions and advice. Koushiro would be the genius in the family. Daisuke would be the immature brat that everyone loved. Miyako is the little sister that always stuck with her older sister that was her role model, that being Mimi. Iori was the youngest who understood the most since he learns from the other's mistakes. Ken is the one who keeps us all together when we get out of hand with our antics. TK and Hikari were very different from the typical family members I had in mind.

TK was always a happy kid that would resolve the family problems we had. Kari would do the same thing. Maybe it was because they had the biggest hearts and went through both adventures of saving the world. The only differences between them were that TK was more helpful while Kari was more determined to make sure things were alright.

Our "family" was having a little get-together. We always did since there wasn't much to worry since we already took out MaloMyotismon. Everything and everyone was so peaceful.

But the peace didn't last long. The sky darkened and the tree we were sitting under shriveled up and died. The lush green grass we sat on turned yellow.

The boys stopped horsing around and immediately rushed over. Everyone around me began to slow and fade out. I floated in nothingness as I tried to understand what happened.

One moment Mimi and I were making fun of Kari's and Miyako's crushes on who we think they liked. Now I was alone in this darkness.

Images appeared around me. Many were from when I went to that summer camp and the adventures I had with Tai and the others. Little TK would stick with me, like I was his older sister. Things were so different back then. I still held the Crest of Love.

"Love? What is that really, Sora?"

I looked around the darkness. I could make out a tall, skinny figure a little past the memory images. His build was like TK's but I couldn't be sure since a lot of people seemed different as silhouettes.

"Aren't you going to answer me, Sora?" He took a menacing step forward.

"Love is caring for those who matter to you," I replied defiantly.

He hesitated slightly and stepped back. He regained his composure and laughed. "Really? Well, how do you feel about your friends abandoning you?"

"The Digidestined don't abandon each other. We stick together as a team. Like a family."

"Families don't always stick together…" He chuckled slightly. "Didn't you know that?"

He was referring to Matt and TK. Of course we knew, but both boys learned how to cope with it. At least Matt did. It's hard to figure out what TK really feels on the inside.

He seemed to know what I was thinking. "That makes it hard for you to know if he really cares for anything, huh? He probably hates everyone because they always need him to make them happy."

I glared at the shadow. "You can't say that about TK!"

Another dark chuckle came from his direction. "You want to be Love? That's okay. Just remember that a broken heart brings the most pain when dealing with the feeling."

He disappeared and the memories did too. Everyone else flickered back into the scene. The atmosphere was different, almost hostile.

Hikari cried next to me as we all turned against someone. "I thought he cared about all of us, Sora."

I looked at the figure. It was a little bit hard to make him out and I couldn't identify him. I couldn't say anything to her. Instead, the figure replied in a voice that was similar to TK's, "Love is relative when it comes to perspective. Like what we believe is good and evil…"

My friends and real family surrounded me for a while, but vanished again to leave me alone.

It was at this moment, my cell phone buzzed to awaken me. I quickly reached for it and looked at the caller ID. Yamato… What was he doing up?

I answered willingly since I had no intentions of returning to that nightmare. "Matt? What's up?"

* * *

~KOUSHIRO~

I sat at a computer in the school computer lab. Weird. I don't remember ever having to get up for class. I also thought that it was supposed to be a Saturday. It must be a dream then.

I glanced around my dream world and smiled at my friends as they anxiously waited for me. Obviously they wanted to go to the Digital World.

I typed in a few codes and got the portal open. "It's all set!"

Taichi got to his feet. "Alright, Izzy!" He pulled out his digivice and activated the portal. "Let's go!"

We entered the alternate world and were immediately greeted by our partners. I laughed as Tentomon buzzed around me happily.

"It's great to see you again, Koushiro."

"Yeah, it's been a while," I replied happily.

We all held our usually abnormal picnics around a lake. Yamato and TK were helping setup the food. Jou was busy cooking the barbeque as I opened up my pineapple laptop. The girls sat under the shade and were talking to Ken, Daisuke, and Iori. Taichi had gone off somewhere.

He soon came back, wearing some dark blue swim trunks. He threw a small duffel bag at Kari and cannonballed into the lake, wetting Yamato. The other boy was unfortunate as to be walking in that direction.

"Tai!" Yamato had begun to pull the brown-haired boy to shore.

Everyone laughed as both began to mock fight. TK laughed as the two older boys weren't having any luck hitting each other. I sighed and looked back into the laptop. Not that there was much to look at in the screen. We saved the world, anyways.

The food was all done and everyone crowded around the tables to get a helping. The food didn't last long as we went back for seconds. The digimon actually went back for thirds and fourths.

"Let's all go for a swim!" TK cried. He took off his shirt and was already wearing his swim trunks.

He ran towards the water and turned to face us as he swam on his back. Daisuke laughed and ran after him. Taichi and Yamato had a competitive glint in their eyes as they charged into the lake. Jou and I nervously laughed, but stayed on dry land with Iori, who could not swim.

The girls went to change and they soon came out. They all went to hang out with the others while the three of us on shore stayed nearby.

TK, although first to go in, came out to dry. His lopsided grin matched the happy glow in his light blue eyes. Patamon and the other digimon tackled him and he fell backwards into the water with a laugh. They had been playing tag and Patamon was the only one who never became It.

"You're it, Patamon!" Gatomon cried as she tagged him.

"You're gonna get it! All of you!" Patamon jumped off TK's head and flew to chase the nearest digimon.

TK still smiled as he grabbed his bag and went somewhere to change. Iori could not help but comment on TK's attitude. "Does he always have to take things so lightly?"

Jou answered. "That's TK, for you. Only serious when the darkness comes and takes away something he cares about."

I nodded. "That's how most of us are. I won't take action unless I'm certain on what to do."

"And I don't do anything unless I know we have a chance," Jou said with a smile.

Iori nodded as he understood. "TK never jumps into action unless he has a need to do so."

Hikari came out of the water and looked around. "You're talking about, TK? Where is he anyways?"

I looked around. It was taking him quite a while to change. "He's been gone for about fifteen minutes."

Jou was starting to get worried. "It shouldn't take that long."

Yamato overheard and was about to say something when we heard a yell from the trees. He ran over to his bag and grabbed his digivice. "Gabumon!"

"Right, Matt!" Gabumon was covered in light as he digivolved into Garurumon.

The two of them went to look for TK, thinking that he must have yelled for help. Kari did the same as Angewomon followed her. Patamon were at their tail.

I motioned for Iori and Jou to go ahead. Gomamon digivolved into Champion and then to Ultimate. Iori had Armadillomon armor digivolve into Digmon and quickly left.

I called out to the others. "Guys! Hurry up! We have to help TK!"

Tai was first to move and pretty soon, all the digimon were ready to move. I rode Kabuterimon and scouted the area to make sure we were headed the right way.

Everyone followed Tai and I as Greymon trampled the trees on his rampage.

I slowed as we neared Yamato fighting some digimon. Angewomon and Patamon fought some others and backup was on their way.

I jumped off safely as Kabuterimon let out an attack. "Electro Shocker!"

Attacks blazed through the air and one digimon attacked everyone with a massive attack. Everyone was blown back and our partners dedigivolved.

I struggled to pick up Motimon. I looked around at the damage. Everyone else was passed out near their digimon partner. I struggled to stand up with Motimon in my arms.

"Are you alright, buddy?"

Motimon nodded slightly. I checked to make sure everyone was safe. There was only TK missing. Yamato gained consciousness first and checked around for his younger brother.

We found him in a tree. Taichi and the rest woke up and managed to get the boy down safely. Being very weak, Patamon had reverted back into his Fresh form. Poyomon was carried by Hikari and she gently laid the digimon down next to his human partner.

I immediately taken out the laptop and checked his injuries. Jou was taking note of what was wrong with him.

Now, I know this is a dream, but I'm compelled to find out what I can do. Plus, I actually feel some pain from that final blast. I'm very confused here. Was this really a dream?

I was answered by my laptop freezing and sizzling. Everything slowed and faded around me. The trees lowered their branches as if to signal sorrow and despair. I sensed a dark, menacing shadow behind me.

I turned slowly to see a gaunt young boy staring at me with dark blue eyes. A lopsided frown stuck on his face. His black-blonde hair draped over his dull eyes.

"This isn't a dream. It's supposed to be a nightmare."

"Somehow I don't think waking up will do the trick," I muttered.

The small boy frowned. He reminded me of someone. Or at least someone's opposite. "How does it feel to know nothing?" I looked at him with questions in my eyes. He rolled his eyes. "To know nothing to help others. Especially your friends." He sneered. It was an odd gesture from a small boy.

"I don't have to know now. I just have to learn it as I go along."

"Really? How are you going to learn when you don't even know what true Knowledge is?" He vanished and things moved again.

I stared blankly at my computer. It was dead. Jou looked at me expectantly. I just continued to stare into space.

"Koushiro? Is something wrong? I need you to tell me what these wounds are from. Koushiro?" Everyone else tried too, but to no avail.

I felt just as lost as I did when Vademon took away my curiosity of the world. Not being able to supply the needed information was unbearable. Not being able to think. I was about to lose it when I chose to wake up at that moment.

I had a little help in waking. My computer was beeping, telling me that the file download was ready. I sighed and stared at the machine. At least I still had my curiosity and Knowledge, if not nothing.

* * *

~MIMI~

It was great to be back in Japan. I love America, but Japan is my home and all of my friends are here. Especially my closest friends, the Digidestined.

We were together in the Digital World. We actually wanted to hang out at Vegiemon's restaurant. So here we were in the restaurant, having fun.

Miyako laughed as Daisuke tried to impress Hikari with his antics. He had gotten over his crush, but he still acted that way to annoy his friends. The poor boy rubbed the back of his head as he pulled the fork out of his hair.

Taichi smiled. "Nice try, goggle boy!"

Daisuke smiled too. "Hey, TS! I bet you can't do it better!"

TK blinked. "Juggling forks? Maybe, I don't know."

Hikari and Miyako giggled as TK began to juggle. They were actually laughing at the face Daisuke made when TK threw a few forks into the air and caught them all. TK wore a huge grin as he kept it up for two minutes.

He would have done it longer, but Yamato snatched the forks from midair. "You'll hurt yourself, little brother."

Sora took them from her boyfriend. "And you'll hurt yourself, Matt."

Taichi took a sip from his drink. "You gotta admit, though, TK's good."

Everyone chuckled lightly, but something about the atmosphere became awkward. Being a large group, we split up into three tables. Hikari sat with TK, Yamato, and Taichi. Daisuke was with Ken, Iori, and Miyako. That left me with Sora, Koushiro, and Jou. It was only awkward because Sora and I were gossiping rather loudly.

"I'm telling you, Sora! TK and Kari look so cute together."

Sora rolled her eyes. "You're too loud, Mimi."

I looked up at TK and Hikari. The two had looked away from each other. Taichi raised a brow at his best friend's brother. Yamato was holding back laughter.

Daisuke's table hid their smiles, but I heard them snicker. Koushiro and Jou didn't really think much of the matter.

TK broke the light tension. "We're just best friends. Don't have to twist things up, Mimi." His quiet voice was barely audible, but everyone heard.

At that moment, Yamato couldn't keep in his laughter any longer. He laughed with some food still in his mouth. He choked and Taichi hammered him on the back. TK, worried, went around the table to make sure his brother was alright.

I felt awful for almost causing so much trouble. But I couldn't help being Sincere all the time. I just spoke what was on my mind. It does a lot of damage to have no impulse control though.

"Is it better to lie then?"

I looked around. The restaurant scene froze. I tried to figure out who said that. It actually came from near Yamato's table.

"Well? Is it? Lying must bring some relief from the pressure of having to always be Sincere."

"No! Lying just makes things worse."

"But, then the truth hurts sometimes, doesn't it?"

"It's better to see them hurt, than to make them believe in something that's wrong!"

"Then why don't you tell them what you truly think? Tell them everything that flashes through your mind. Like how some things shouldn't work, what might be the best way to fix certain problems, and other things I know you want to have a say in."

This invisible person was so annoying. I don't say everything on my mind because I know there's a time and place for that stuff. I critique things based on more than my perspective.

Time moved again. Yamato downed his glass of water and still continued to laugh, despite it almost killing him. TK blushed madly, but went back to his seat. Hikari and he refused to look at each other directly.

Sora frowned. I immediately apologized to her and Yamato. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking clearly."

Sora nodded and replied, "Maybe we should change the seating arrangements."

I quickly stood up. "I've got the perfect arrangement!" Everyone looked at me. TK and Hikari scooted their chairs apart from each other. Taichi and Yamato stared at their younger siblings with smiles on their faces.

Daisuke smiled, knowing he wasn't really a part of my plan. He didn't really have anyone to be worried about. Ken became nervous as to what I had in mind. I suspect that he knows I know he likes Miyako, somewhat. Jou and Koushiro were uncomfortable to how awkward it was going to be with putting cute potential couples together. Iori had a look of confusion on his face. Sora already had Yamato, but she worried for the rest.

I was about to speak, but TK stood up quickly. "Mimi, please don't do this." He picked up his hat and placed it on his head in a way to hide his blush. "It's not necessary."

I don't know why, but I wanted to argue with the blonde boy. "It'll be nice. Besides, I want to talk with the others, too."

Sora decided to side with TK. And things went downhill from there. Everyone got into a big argument on whether or not I should move the seating arrangements. I sat in the middle of it all, seeing the chaos I started.

The shouts were deafening and I began to wish that I kept my mouth shut. I shut my eyes tight and opened them again when I heard someone calling my name. "Mimi! Time to get up."

I sat up in bed and sighed in relief. "Okay, Mom! I'll be ready soon."

* * *

~JOU~

This was not good. I ran along the moving hospitable bed. We had to move quickly, if this patient was to survive. It didn't help me that this was my very close friend!

I rushed into the room and made sure my gloves were secure. I hooked up the complicated equipment to TK's weakening body. His breathing was slow and I was scared that if I didn't this right, he would die.

I looked at the main doctor and he took over. I watched. I was supposed to be watching the actions the doctor made to attempt to revive the unconscious Digidestined. I wasn't, mainly because I was too worried about his well-being.

Time crept forward slowly. I was intent on making sure things would be okay. They didn't because I heard the heart monitor let out a long beep. My eyes widened when I realized I failed.

Things felt stopped. The sounds of the room faded out, except for the dreaded beeping. It was mocking me.

"TK! No! You can't die!"

The beeping turned into words that I couldn't get out of my mind. "Reliability, huh? You just caused one of the Digidestined to die! Couldn't you have done anything?"

"Shut up! I can still try!"

"Give it up! He's dead! Go on and tell his brother. Do you think he'll forgive you?"

The beeping finally stopped and I stared at the doctor. "I'm sorry, Jou. Sometimes patients have to die. You can't save them all."

"I'll tell the others," I managed to choke out.

The doctor nodded his head solemnly. He knew that I had known TK. "It's not your fault, Jou."

I left the room with my head down. Yamato was up and pacing the hall. He spotted me and noticed my melancholy mood. He instantly flared up. "TK! Jou! I thought you could save him!" He was clouded by grief and rage.

Taichi and Sora restrained him from attacking me or any of the other medical staff. "TK would want you to calm down, Matt!"

"I have to do something! TK!" He tried to struggle, but stopped. Not bothering to hold in his tears, he cried on Sora's shoulder.

Mrs. Takaishi was crying softly behind her, now only, son. Mr. Ishida only looked away.

How could this happen? I was supposed to protect him and make sure he was alright. How did I fail? The others won't see me as Reliable as I was before.

Again that beeping sounded. I bolted awake and stared at the stupid alarm clock. A nightmare! I sighed in relief as none of it really happened. But still, I felt bothered.

* * *

~KEN~

I stared at the mirror and couldn't believe my eyes. No! I got rid of him when I decided to take on the Crest of Kindness!

The Emperor stepped out of the mirror and laughed at me. "What? Did you think that you would get rid of me that easily? I'm you! I'll always be you!"

"That doesn't mean that I have to be you," I said coolly. It's best to not fly off the handle right now.

"Oh please, you don't know how to be nice. You pretend to be nice, but are you really kind?"

I clenched my teeth. "I know I can be kind. I'm nice so I can repay the world for what I did as you!"

"But what if I don't want to use you as a host anymore? I can always try to be the Emperor through someone else!" The Kaiser fell back into the shadows. His appearance changed slightly. His hair became slightly flatter, but messier. I could see him wear a hat. He took off his glasses and thrust them on the floor. "I mean, why should I just be you when I can rule the world as someone else?"

I ran forward and tried to land a punch. He lunged forward and dodged my fist. He tackled me and it reminded me of when TK attacked me. I shielded my face and head with my arms, but the Emperor punched my stomach. I fell to the ground where he kicked me in the chest.

I coughed up some blood, but tried to stand up. He scoffed and said in a smug tone, "Thanks for being kind enough to let me beat you up. You can't even fight yourself."

"You're not me and I'm no longer you," I managed to groan before letting the pain consume me. I closed myself away from the darkness. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself in bed. I was a bit sore, but I was okay. Wormmon crawled up the bed to check if I was alright.

"Ken? Are you okay? Who aren't you?"

I shook my head. "Don't worry, Wormmon. Just something of the past."

He was still a bit doubtful, but went back to sleep. I laid back and stared at the ceiling. I hope I never have to see that side of me again.

* * *

~DAISUKE~

I was cornered in the darkness. My hero and his best friend glared at me. Taichi made a move to grab my goggles from my head. I winced as they snapped off.

"You don't deserve these!"

Yamato just spat at me. "You call yourself a friend?"

I shook in fear. What was going on? What did I do wrong? "I don't understand!"

Taichi rolled his eyes. "Where's your Courage?"

"And Friendship?" Yamato added.

"You're going to abandon everyone to protect yourself?" They both exclaimed at me.

I tried covering my ears, but that didn't help keep them out. Both older boys raised their fists. I shut my eyes and waited for them to punch me. I jumped up when something soft and cushiony hit my face.

"Daisuke! Mom wants you up to clean your room!"

I stared at the pillow that fell to the ground. It was better than having Taichi and Yamato punch me. I picked it up and threw it back at Jun. "I'll get to it later!" I got up from bed and decided to get ready for the day.

* * *

~MIYAKO~

I felt the glares of Mimi and Sora penetrate me. I knew they weren't around, but it wasn't like I could just escape from this endless maze of grocery shelves.

I made another turn and was stuck in a dead end. I turned around to head back, but both girls already trapped me in there. "What did I do?"

Sora crossed her arms. "We thought you cared about the group!"

"How could you lie to all of us?" Mimi's eyes burned a hole into my brain.

"I'm sorry! Whatever I did I'm sorry!"

"Love can't be taken advantage of!"

"And Sincerity isn't something used to purposefully hurt others!"

Both loomed over me. "How do you think the others feel about you betraying them?"

I turned away, but fell myself crash into the shelf. My glasses cracked as they hit the ground. I blinked back the tears, but failed. I sank to the ground and cried.

"Miyako? Hey! Wake up!" I looked up to see my brother, Mantarou, staring at me. "Are you okay? It's almost morning and I heard you bump into the wall in your sleep."

I rubbed my eyes and found that they were a little damp. I head hurt slightly and I guess it was from the crash. "I'm alright." I stared at my older brother. "Get out of my room!"

He smirked and went back into his room next door. I curled into my blankets and tried to forget about my nightmare. Maybe a little bit more sleep will help.

* * *

~IORI~

Grandfather's kendo studio was bare. I made my way towards the sliding door to leave. I opened it and found Koushiro and Jou staring at me, angry.

"Guys? Is anything wrong?" I was slightly nervous as both had their arms crossed.

The younger of the two spoke first. "How can you not use Knowledge to save the team?"

"What? Koushiro, what are you talking about? Jou?" I looked at the medical student, hoping that he could clear things up. Boy was I wrong.

"You can't be Reliable if you don't trust everyone on the team!"

Was he talking about Ken? But I do trust him. I trusted everyone with my life. "I don't get it."

Both of them stared me down. "How would your father feel knowing you fail us because you doubt us?"

I shook a little. The few memories I had of my father flashed through my mind. "But I didn't fail," I began, "Did I?" I staggered backward and fell.

I tried to stand up several times, but each time landed with the same result. I continued to fall backwards and that was when I tripped over the kendo equipment.

Enraged, I picked up a helmet and through it at the closing door. I regretted it after I realized I was just dreaming.

I blinked slowly as I realized I threw my pillow across my bedroom. "Iori? Is everything alright? Your grandfather wants you up for early practice."

I picked up the pillow and placed it neatly on my bed. "Okay, mom! I'll be ready in a moment."

I looked out my window to see the sun starting to rise. Kendo should take my mind off of things.

* * *

~HIKARI~

I felt the darkness creeping up around me. I screamed. Taichi! TK! I need you!

The darkness stopped moving towards me. It paused for a moment as if wondering about something. "Do you really need _him_?"

No, I didn't want the darkness to read my mind. But it was in my head. It couldn't help it. "I'll always need my brother…"

"Not that buffoon. The other one…"

TK? "He's my best friend. He's always there when I need him!"

"You rely on him too much." The darkness took a form. The only light around here came from around me. I saw the form and thought it was TK at first glance.

"Why do you look like TK?"

The lookalike frowned. "It doesn't really matter. But you need him too much. Aren't you strong enough to fight off the impending darkness?" He grinned evilly. Shivers crawled up my spine.

"Of course I am!"

The figure evaporated and the shadows became misty. "Prove it, Light. Next time the darkness comes, try to fight it off without help from Hope."

I saw it retreat and I immediately went after it. "Hey! Come back!"

"Hikari! I need to leave already," Taichi shouted.

I woke up and stared at him through our open bedroom door. "Oh. Sorry, Taichi. I was just talking in my sleep."

He came back in and stared at me. He looked tired. Maybe it was the nightmare he had last night. "Are you alright? A nightmare?"

I shook my head. "Not exactly a nightmare, but not a good dream either."

"I have to get to soccer practice, but I'll be back soon. Okay?"

I rolled my eyes and laugh. "I'll be alright, Taichi."

He smiled and left the bedroom again. "We should get all the others together. It's a nice Saturday after all!"

I climbed down the bunk bed and locked myself in the bathroom. I'll be alright. I'll try taking on the dark figure's challenge. I'll have backup though. Just in case.

* * *

~TAKERU~

I sat in the middle of the darkness. I sat there because I didn't really want to stand up and go exploring whatever this place had in mind. I hated it here. The emptiness. The loneliness. The dark sense of evil that loomed over the atmosphere, making it unbearable for something like Hope to exist.

I decided that I had sat here long enough. I won't get out if I at least to attempt to leave.

After a few steps of walking, I thought I saw Hikari here. Was she crying? I immediately went after her. I took a step forward, but my legs were stuck. Confused, I looked down. My legs had literally turned to stone.

"Hey! What gives?" I looked back up to get Hikari to help me. What I saw instead made me freeze. "Hikari?"

Around me, I saw the six other Digidestined. "Guys? A little help?"

They didn't come near me. It was like I was some disgusting creature they found. I stood on a rotating platform and it faced me with Taichi.

"TK, you shouldn't be a Digidestined." His voice was icy. "You have no Courage when you face evil."

I turned to my brother. He did nothing to help me against what Taichi said. "You don't really have any real Friendships neither, little brother."

It continued as I faced every member of the team. "You don't have the Love of anyone. Not even your own family."

"Is your Sincerity really the truth?"

"How much Knowledge do you even have to apply it to life?"

"Your Reliability never existed. You're still that weak little boy that cried all the time."

The newer members took their place in between they had a lot more to say to me.

"TU! You can't do anything right!"

"How can you try to destroy the Darkness alone and leave us here to fend for ourselves?"

"I don't understand how I could ever admire a person like you!"

"Where's the Kindness you usually show to others? Or is that just an act?"

I couldn't really shut them out. I wanted to, but I had to hear this. I wasn't weak. I am strong, or at least strong enough to fight for myself. But I would never fight my friends.

They all started yelling at me and I couldn't make out anything they said. I found that I could move again, but I stumbled inside their little ring.

I collapsed and looked up at Hikari. She offered me her hand with a smile. Cautiously, I took it. She helped me up and I relaxed a little. Big mistake because she spiked her knee into my stomach and once again I was lying on the ground.

"You're weak, Takeru!" I winced as she used my full name. "And you're supposed to be Hope. I don't need you to be Hope. I can carry out both Light and Hope. You can't do anything! Why don't you go back into the darkness?"

Back into the darkness? Is that where Hope comes from? I picked myself up, not trusting the others. I managed to get on my knees, but was kicked down. I looked up at my best friend. She didn't really care that I was getting hurt by everyone.

Yamato didn't care either. He just stood there looking at me with the cold eyes he used to look at Taichi with. "Big brother," I groaned.

"I don't know why you're calling me that," he snapped. "I no longer have a brother worth having."

It was a heavy blow. Taichi gave me a kick that sent me to the edge of the darkness. I clutched my badly hurt chest and started to whimper. It was something I hadn't done in a long time. Not since I was eight had I ever cried. I stopped when I realized that crying doesn't make things better.

Crying only let out your pain. Then when you're done, you still have to face the problem. After defeating Apocalymon, I decided to always fight for what I believe first. There would never be a time to cry until after I completed my task.

The others left me and my low whimpering. I laid there for a long time before I felt the shadows move.

I instantly sat up and looked around. "Who's there?"

The darkness seemed much more peaceful now. I never noticed how the silence was welcoming. Being alone seemed to help me too; there was no one to bother my thoughts.

"Why have you been trying to fight off the darkness then, TK?" The shadows asked. "Doesn't Hope come from the darkness anyway? After all, there is no need for hope if the darkness isn't there to give it a need."

I thought back. Maybe the shadow was right. But I couldn't lose my Hope. It made me who I was.

"I'm not asking you to abandon hope, TK. I just want you to return into the darkness with your hope."

I stood up slowly. "The darkness?" I stared at the empty black. A part of me hated it and feared it. "I can't…"

"Don't worry about it. You're not ready for it. You can stay in the Light for as long as you want. But just remember that the darkness will let you return if you feel the need to come back."

I looked at my newly remade tag and crest. It glowed its pale yellow in my hands. No. I won't leave everything behind. I looked back at the darkness. It wasn't going to force me. I know that. But was it really something that I could turn away from?

I watched as the dark was replaced by my room. I looked out the window. A dream, but not quite a dream. I sighed as I stepped out of my bedroom and walk into the bathroom. I'll think it over after I see the others.


	2. Destroyed Angel

Notes: This takes place after MaloMyotismom was defeated. Everyone, even the new Digidestined, have a new crest and tag. Daisuke, Iori, and Miyako have a two-sided tag with both traits on each side, i.e. Daisuke has Courage on one side and Friendship on the other. I'm mainly basing this on the English dub, except for the names. I'm using all of the Digidestined's Japanese name but TK's for a reason. I just think Takeru sounds... formal? I dunno, it'll come up later on in the story. I don't own Digimon, if I did, I would have made Takeru evil or at least make him as cold as he was during "An Old Enemy Returns." Then again, my opinion is really unreliable most of the time.

* * *

~TAKERU~

I stared at my reflection and shrugged. I found my fisherman's hat and placed it on my head. I made sure my crest was still hanging around my neck and placed it under my shirt. I left my room and found my older brother, Yamato Matt Ishida, watching TV.

"Hey, Matt. You're up a bit early. It's barely noon."

The older blonde shrugged. "I woke up early." He looked at me. "You look tired."

I shrugged it off. "I'm alright," I lied as I sat on other side of the couch.

Yamato glanced at the clock and immediately stood up. "I've got to get going. Sora and I have plans today."

I felt disappointed. I was hoping I could talk with him about my nightmare. But I feigned a smile. "Okay, big brother."

Yamato was a lot of things, but not dumb. He knew something was up. "Is something wrong, TK?"

I frowned. "Nothing."

"I can always tell Sora we can hang out some other time."

I shook my head. I didn't want my problems to get into the way of his life. "Don't worry, Matt. I was going to leave anyway. I'll be fine."

He wasn't convinced. He grabbed his keys off the countertop. "Just call me in case you need me. All right, Takeru?"

I smiled as he knew it annoyed me to have people use my full name. It just sounded weird, but he was only one of the few people who I let call me that.

He chuckled as he closed the front door behind him. I sighed. He didn't have to worry about me. But being Yamato, he'll do anything for his adorable little brother.

I flipped the channel and frowned. Two people I wouldn't want to bother today. Sora and big brother. I can't have my problems ruin whatever they had planned.

I left my apartment and locked the door. I guess I can try Miyako or Iori. I knocked on the door to the Hida residence. I smiled as Iori's mother greeted me.

"TK! How nice to see you!"

"Is Iori available?" I asked politely.

"I'm sorry, but Iori won't be able to do anything today. His grandfather wants to take advantage of the end of summer vacation and train him in kendo. He won't have practice tomorrow though. I'm sorry, TK."

"That's okay, Mrs. Hida. I'll see you around." She closed the door and I walked to another section of the apartment building.

The door to the Inoue residence opened swiftly. I was ambushed by Miyako's older sisters. The older one, Momoe, yelled into the apartment. "We got him! Mantarou! Tell Miyako we got her secret crush!"

I heard her older brother yell, too. "Miyako! We have Ken under our possession."

I heard a loud "What?" burst through the entire building.

"I'm not Ken! I'm TK!" I managed to say.

Disappointed, both older girls got off of me. I let out a sigh of relief when Miyako saw me. I looked at her with a confused face. "Ken?"

When I mentioned his name, her face glowed pink. The Love side of her double-sided crest glowed, too. "Don't laugh, TK. He's coming over though. He invited me to the soccer tournament today." She looked at me closer. "You look like you have something on your mind."

I scratched my head. "No, it's nothing. I was just visiting anyways. Have fun on your date."

I heard her siblings laugh as she yelled back at me. "It's not a date!"

I sighed as I left the apartment building. So no one near home can help today. Why was I thinking about this so much? Did I want to really reassure myself that I was important? I shook my head. That can't be the reason.

It was just Saturday. And the final week of summer vacation. I wasn't about to spend it alone. That is a good excuse, right?

I thought about what Miyako said. A soccer tournament meant Taichi and Daisuke will be there. Two more people off my list. Why was everyone so busy today?

I walked past the school and went through the open gates. They were holding summer school every day except Sunday for students who didn't do very well during the year. Or for students who want to get a head start on the new school year. Something Koushiro Izzy Izumi would be interested in.

I stood outside the computer lab door and looked in through the window. I saw the board from the outside and saw that Koushiro was the teacher. I walked away in disappointment. If he was teaching, he would have classes the whole day until the school day ended.

Maybe Mimi or Jou will be open. I then stopped walking. No, Jou was finishing his summer lessons for medical school. Mimi was also busy with a fashion job she took when she moved back. That only left one more person.

I exited the school grounds and took the familiar route to the Kamiya apartment.

I stood outside the door and was about to knock, but it opened up.

"TK? What are you doing here?"

I was startled by Kari. "I was coming to visit. You scared me by opening the door!"

She looked at me in confusion. Then she giggled at me. "Sorry, TK! I just had to step out. We're switching apartments. A neighbor moved out and we're taking it. That way, Taichi and I can have separate rooms."

"Doesn't Taichi have a soccer tournament?"

"Yeah, leaving the work to me." She made a face.

I smiled. "How about I help?"

Before she could argue, I went in. "Hello, TK."

I greeted Mrs. Kamiya. "Can I do anything to help?"

"There are some boxes in Taichi and Hikari's room. But I don't really think you should be helping us."

I ignored her as I already made my way into the bedroom. I saw the boxes and lifted them. It was no big deal. I was used to this kind of work since Mom and I moved a lot when I was younger.

It was past noon when we were finally done. I looked at the new bigger apartment that was now the Kamiya residence. "It looks just like the old apartment!" I walked into Hikari's new room.

Hikari smacked me lightly on the back of my head. "You didn't have to help."

"I know, but I wanted to." I smiled.

She frowned. "You know I can't be angry when you do that."

I frowned too. "Huh?" I noticed that she seemed a bit tired. That reminded me of the reason I came. But my problems can come later. "Kari, is something wrong?"

She stopped smiling. "No." I stared at her. "Maybe." I just kept looking at her. "Yes," she said. "But it's nothing." She looked at me. "Besides, it looks like you have something on your mind, too. You seemed sad when you came over. I think, but I couldn't tell because you surprised me."

"My problem is nothing. Yours is always something worth solving," I replied.

She was kind of ticked off. "I can solve my own problems. Tell me yours first, TK."

I didn't think she would be so upset when I offered to help her instead of me. "I'm serious, Kari. Is it about the Darkness or something? I can help you, you know that."

"I know that you can help me, TK! I just don't want it. I can do this myself."

Apparently coming here was a mistake. I should have just spent the day home. "Okay, then," I whispered quietly. I doubt that she could hear me.

I stumbled out the apartment and sprinted down the hall. I think I almost crashed into Koushiro and a few other people. I couldn't tell who they were because I was running away too quickly to care.

I was at home in record time. I noticed something was different in here right away. I then realized that the people I passed when I ran past Koushiro were Yamato and Sora. They had come back here.

The computer was on and I guess this was the reason why. I saw a new icon on the screen. I clicked it and knew right away that Koushiro had installed a program into it that allowed access to the Digital World.

I whipped out my D-3 and shouted, "Digiport, open!"

I felt the portal suck me into the computer and my body turn into, I think, data. I landed in a familiar plain. The long grass scratching my legs didn't bother me much. I was too tired and excited to care.

"TK!" I turned to see the small orange lump tackle me.

"It's great to see you, Patamon!"

"Tentomon said that Koushiro found a program to allow instant access into the Digital World. He's installing it into everyone's computers."

I smiled at my partner and took him off my hat. "Let's go for a walk, Patamon."

"Okay!" He flew ahead of me as we entered the forest. He chattered about the things he did in the Digital World during the summer. "Gennai actually gave Koushiro the file to the program, TK! He was going to invite you all back for a festival."

I laughed. "Really? That sounds nice." I looked at our surroundings and noticed something. "Patamon? Does this place seem familiar? I thought we passed it minutes ago."

Patamon flew up for a better look. "I don't actually know, TK. Maybe we're lost."

I looked around, but the trees seemed closer together. It was trying to bar us or something. "This is weird."

I felt the ground shake and fell down. "TK! Are you okay?"

I grabbed a tree to help me get up. "Yeah, but what was that?"

I heard thundering footsteps near us and couldn't believe what digimon was coming after us. It charged at us with merciless speed. Patamon and I panicked and ran away.

"TK! Maybe we should try talking to him."

I turned around and slowed just a bit. Greymon just continued to run at us. He opened his mouth and my eyes grew wide. I dove into Patamon and out of the way just in time. "Nova Blast!"

"TK!" Taichi was here?

I looked at the older boy. I was relieved, sort of. "Taichi! What's going on?"

"The others and I have been talking," he started, "and we feel that you shouldn't be a Digidestined anymore." He frowned.

Patamon rose to my defense in an instant. "Hey! That's not fair. Give us a reason why TK shouldn't be a Digidestined."

Yamato stepped out and stood next to Taichi. "He's the weakest out of all of us. Now, I understand if you disagree, Patamon, but we can find you a better partner than my little brother."

I looked at Patamon. Was he going to abandon me, too? Patamon looked at me and the two leaders. "No! TK has always been my partner. That's not going to change now!"

Yamato sighed. "That's too bad. TK, do you want to give us your Crest?"

I revealed the necklace and gripped it in my hands. "You're not Taichi. Or Yamato."

"I'm not your brother? I have proof." He snapped his fingers and I heard a shout from my right.

"Howling Blaster!"

I ducked down and saw the other Champion forms reveal themselves. This was trouble.

I looked at Patamon and he seemed determined to fight for me. "TK! Let me digivolve. Maybe I can talk some sense into them."

I nodded and activated my digivice. "Patamon digivolve to…"

"Angemon!" He immediately flew up as I began to run away. "What are you all doing? TK is your friend!"

Kabuterimon snickered. "He's weak! Electro Shocker!"

Angemon flew out of the way. "Don't attack, Angemon!" I cried. I wasn't really sure if these were my friends or not, but better not risk hurting them.

The other Champions didn't help much with the negotiation though. They ruthlessly attacked Angemon with everything they had. Soon, Angemon had no other choice than to fight back.

"Angel Staff!" He spun his staff around and flew into Birdramon. "Angel's Requiem!"

The bird digimon was blown back into the others. They were stunned for a while as Angemon flew to wear I was waiting. "I told you not to attack!"

"I'm sorry, TK, but what can I do?"

Taichi and Yamato found us and smirked. Taichi spoke first. "Just give us Angemon and the Crest and we won't bother you, TK."

Angemon shielded me from them. "I won't ever leave TK."

Yamato nodded his head. "We know, but TK will force you to if he doesn't want you hurt. If you're going to fight back, I guess it's time for desperate measures. Gabumon! Warp digivolve, now!"

"Agumon, you too!"

Garurumon and Greymon had reverted back into rookie form. I panicked again and ran tried to get as far from MetalGarurumon and WarGreymon. Angemon followed closely behind.

We didn't get very far because the others caught up with us. The only difference this time was that they became Ultimate.

I paused. There were a few digimon missing. Only the older digimon were chasing after us. Gatomon, Veemon, Hawkmon, and Armadillomon weren't hunting us down. They were probably going to be used as a last resort.

I stopped running and turned to Angemon. He was struggling to keep Zudomon from coming any closer. I don't see how that would work since the Ultimate was a hundred times bigger than him.

I clutched my crest and felt it heat up. "Angemon! Digivolve to Ultimate!"

He sensed my Hope and digivolved at once. "Angemon digivolve to…"

"MagnaAngemon!"

MagnaAngemon swung his Excalibur around to fight off the Ultimate digimon. I continued to run and find a safe place. I turned around briefly to see that he managed to defeat Lilymon, Garudamon, MegaKabuterimon, and Zudomon. He flew close to me and that was when MetalGarurumon stopped us.

I could sense WarGreymon behind us and I looked at our surroundings. The trees were too thick for me to run through. Nowhere for me to go but up. MagnaAngemon noticed this too so came close to me and made a motion telling me that we would goad them to attack one another accidentally. He pretended that his wings were too damaged for flight.

WarGreymon took a step close. "We don't want to destroy you, TK. You're a good kid, but we have to take that Crest from you."

"Over my dead body," I hissed.

"If you say so," MetalGarurumon answered. Both digimon charged up their attacks.

"Terra Force!"

"Metal Wolf Claw!"

MagnaAngemon quickly picked me up and flew up. I felt the massive ball of energy strike the icy cold blast. We barely made it out of range of the resulting explosion. My partner turned me away from the shockwave. I shielded my head and knew that we were falling.

I caught a branch and pulled myself up. I caught a tired Patamon in my arms. "That was close, buddy."

"TK, that wasn't everybody." I knew what he meant. He was talking about the newer Digidestined that would definitely take us down.

"Rock Crackin'!" I yelped as the tree shook to the ground.

When the branch we were on was close enough, I jumped down and tucked my head to roll away to safety. Correction, to danger. I landed at the feet of an angry Flamedramon.

I got up swiftly as he readied an attack. "Fire Knuckle!"

With Patamon still in my arms, I dodged the blazing fireballs. I took off my hat and threw it to the ground when it got caught in the heat.

I turned around in time to see Stingmon charge at me in the air. "Spiking Strike!" He waved around the spike on his arm and I somehow managed to do a backflip. I fell through some bushes and got up.

I turned around and bam! Shurimon appeared out of nowhere, which scared me out of my skin. I shook it off and prepared for his attack. "Double Stars!" I immediately dodged out of the way, anticipating the large star on his back. He grabbed the large shuriken and through the thing at me with great force.

I clenched my eyes shut as I waited for the pain to come. "Heaven's Charge!" I opened them slowly and saw that Angewomon was there protecting us.

I almost fainted in relief, but Angewomon looked down at me. "Do you still have enough energy to digivolve into Champion?"

Patamon nodded. "Come on, TK."

I sighed and let him digivolve into Angemon again. I turned around when I noticed Hikari. "Thanks," I said.

She didn't respond. I looked around and noticed that Flamedramon, Stingmon, Digmon, and Shurimon had disappeared. "Where did they go?"

She looked at me with a clueless expression on her face. "What do you mean, TK?"

I slowly backed away from her. She couldn't want to take my Crest too. I looked at Angemon and he noticed my wary expression. He backed away from Angewomon. "Is there something we should know, Hikari?" I asked.

"Yeah," she slowly replied. "That I told you that I don't need your pathetic help!"

It was déjà vu again as I felt her attack me. Angemon tried to do something, but Angewomon kept him pretty occupied. I blocked her punches and kicks but I couldn't really hurt her.

I let my guard slip and felt a kick on the side of my head. How Hikari can kick that high, I will never know. I fell to the ground, dazed. Angemon crashed a few feet in front of me.

"Angewomon, destroy him now!"

My eyes grew wide. "No!" I felt tears begin to form when I remembered the last time I lost my partner.

"Celestial Arrow!" My mind slowed the sight, torturing me with the arrow that pierced Angemon's heart.

Angemon evaporated into data, but what little power he had left he used to transfer to me his final thoughts. "Don't be tricked, TK. These aren't really our friends."

I know. They aren't my friends. At least not anymore. I felt enraged. I looked around, but couldn't find any of the other Digidestined. I stared at my Crest of Hope. I tore it off my neck.

"Was it really worth this?" I threw it to the ground and stormed off. I had nowhere else to be but gone.

Maybe the Darkness was right. I should return to it. Whatever helps with keeping Hope.


	3. Yamato's Brother

Notes: I like to end with cliffhangers. Just a little warning. It's not that I'm mean or anything, but it helps me gather my thoughts to move on to the next part of the story. Anyways, I don't know _when_ I leave a cliffhanger. To me, it's just a closing. And notes for this chapter? Any digivice can activate the portal. A response to some of the reviews: The last chapter wasn't a dream, but this chapter explains what happened, sort of. Angemon is also reconfigured.

* * *

~YAMATO~

I saw TK rush past me and Sora. He was upset, but I didn't go after him. Maybe I should have, but I needed to know what happened.

I eyed Hikari and she had come to chase after TK. "TK!"

I stopped her. "What happened?"

Koushiro stood impatiently. "Can we go inside and talk? I still have to set up the program in this last computer."

Hikari looked at Koushiro curiously. "A program?"

"It's to enter the Digital World," Sora explained. "We went around to everyone's houses and helped set it up."

"All except for here!" Koushiro was getting impatient. "Come on! After we set it up, we can worry about TK."

Hikari let us in and Koushiro instantly sat in front of the family computer. He began typing and linking up his laptop to the machine.

Sora thought it would be best for the three of us to leave him alone. "What's wrong with TK?"

I looked at Hikari, expecting an explanation. She looked away sheepishly. "I don't really know, but he seemed tired. Like he had something on his mind."

I smacked my forehead. "I knew it. I told him that if he had a problem, he could tell me about it. I should've at least stayed with him before meeting Sora."

Sora looked at me. "I would have let you cancel our date if you said something was wrong with TK, Yamato."

"I know, but TK didn't want me to worry." I turned back to Hikari. "Now what made him leave?"

"Well, I had a nightmare last night and I thought that TK was always there to help me. He offered to help me with my problem, but I didn't want it. Or at least not yet. I wanted to help him with his problem, but he said that it didn't matter. I shouldn't have listened to that stupid nightmare…" She trailed off.

Koushiro had just finished and exited the computer room. "A nightmare? Odd, I had one too."

Sora and I looked at each other. She asked Hikari, "Did Taichi have a weird dream too?"

Hikari thought back. She nodded. "Something must be wrong then."

Koushiro ushered us into the computer room and began sending e-mails to the others. "Where would TK go if he's upset?"

I thought about it. "To the park, home, or the Digital World. The park is a little crowded on Saturdays, so not a good choice to clear his head. If he went home, he would have discovered the program on the computer."

Koushiro nodded. "Then we'll all meet at the Digital World."

He whipped out his upgraded digivice and activated the portal. "Digiport, open!"

We were pulled into the alternate land. I looked at the clearing we stood in. It seemed peaceful and at once, I recognized Gabumon running towards me.

"Matt!" I knelt down and hugged my partner as he yelled my name.

"Hey! Have you seen TK anywhere?"

Gabumon shrugged. "Patamon went off somewhere though. That's probably where TK is."

"Gatomon!" I turned to see the catlike digimon climb down from a tree.

"Kari! Are you guys looking for TK?"

Sora looked up from Biyomon. "Yeah! Have you seen him?"

"He's talking with Patamon somewhere. I think it's best to leave them alone. Patamon is in the middle of one of his stories about what he did this summer. You won't want to interrupt him."

"How long ago was it?" Koushiro asked.

"About thirty minutes ago. Patamon gets really intense when he's talking about what he does."

"How long does his stories actually last?"

Tentomon flew up. "If you're lucky two hours. If not, they can last up to about four at the very least."

I saw Taichi, his two soccer prodigies, and Miyako enter the clearing. "I got the e-mail. Sounds important."

"We'll go over it later. We still need to wait for Jou, Iori, and Mimi, and then get TK."

"No need to wait for us! We're here," Jou gasped as he ran towards us.

Mimi walked towards us and made a face at Jou. "We would have been here sooner, but Jou didn't want to get his new shirt dirty."

At that moment, Iori ran towards us with some of his kendo gear on. "Sorry I'm late. Grandfather let me out just now."

"Now we need to find TK," I said. I turned to Gatomon. "Where did you last see them?"

Gatomon led us into the forest. "I'm not sure if they're still nearby. But we can always digivolve to find them."

We heard an explosion about a mile away from us. I immediately turned and ran in that direction. No doubt that was TK in trouble.

"Yamato! Where are you going?"

I took out my digivice and had Gabumon digivolve. It didn't work. "What's going on?"

"I'm sorry, Matt. Something is stopping me from digivolving."

The others checked their digivices. They couldn't digivolve either. I didn't care. I just kept running with the others behind me. "TK!"

I felt myself crash into an invisible wall. That hurt. I scrunched up my face and felt my nose bleed. I punched the wall, but to no avail.

"Blue Blaster!" The flames did nothing to destroy the barrier.

Taichi caught up with me and rolled his eyes. "You can't just dive in headfirst. I can, but you? Not so much."

I wiped up the blood on my face. "Okay, then. But what do we do?"

Taichi looked into the barrier. "Those trees look trampled. What do you think did all that damage?"

Sora looked at the scene. "It looks like SkullGreymon destroyed it for fun."

Daisuke was egging on Veemon to break the barrier. "Come on! Put your back into it!" Veemon stopped and fell to the ground.

"My head hurts, Daisuke." Daisuke went down to see if his partner was all right.

"Don't worry, Veemon. You tried your best."

Koushiro inspected the barrier. "Maybe we should talk about the nightmares now. This could have something to do with them."

Everyone shared their unpleasant dream and I waited as Hikari finished hers. "Darkness? Didn't we destroy it?"

Taichi and I were leaning against the barrier and it was beginning to disappear. The two of us fell backwards and turned around.

"Let's go!" I yelled. I looked at the digivice and was frustrated. Gabumon still couldn't digivolve.

Taichi was ahead of me, but he had stopped walking. He was hitting against another invisible barrier. "TK! Right here! What are you doing?"

"Pepper Breath!"

The fireball was reflected back at Agumon. He dodged out of the way and tried again. I ran up to Taichi and saw TK with LadyDevimon.

Angemon seemed hesitant. He didn't attack at first. TK was talking and I didn't know who he was talking to. "Is there something we should know, Hikari?" He stared at nothing.

Hikari came and she looked at the devil digimon. "What is she doing here? We have to do something!"

I saw TK try to defend himself against an unseen force. He kept calling it Hikari, but it didn't make any sense. Our digivices began to beep and I immediately had Gabumon warp digivolve. "Gabumon warp digivolve to…"

"MetalGarurumon!"

He crashed into the barrier with all his might. I watched as the other digimon digivolved and try to break down the wall.

Angemon crashed into the ground and I saw him look towards us. The look on his face was incomprehensible. It was like he didn't see us. I watched in dismay as the virus type digimon used one last final attack.

"No!" TK screamed.

LadyDevimon smirked. "Vile Wing!" Her sharp claws tore through Angemon.

At that moment, Angemon saw us. He turned to TK. He was using telepathy with his remaining strength. All of us could hear it resound in our minds. Then I understood.

TK was fighting against an illusion. Angemon stared at us and grimly smiled. I watched his data disappear. TK just stood there quietly.

"TK!" I yelled.

He didn't respond. He tore off his Crest of Hope. "Was it really worth this?"

He ran away from us and I knew that he was confused. Either he still couldn't see us or he was extremely upset Angemon had died again. I ran after him as the barrier went down. I looked around for a trace of him, but there was nothing to show me where he went.

Hikari picked up his tag. The Crest was still whole, but a crack ran through the protective cover. He must have stepped on it. "Yamato, do you want to hold on to it?"

I shook my head. I stared at where Angemon was. TK was so helpless when Devimon destroyed Angemon. Now this time, he thinks we killed him.

Suddenly I had an idea. "Let's go find the Primary Village."

Jou looked around. "That's going to be hard to do. We can try to find Elecmon and he can bring us there."

"I think I found it on the map of my D-3," Iori said. He pointed to his right. "It's this way."

I looked at where my brother had run off to. "TK! Are you there?"

Taichi shook his head. "Yamato, we should go. TK might try to find the village, too. He'll want to see if Patamon was reconfigured again."

I nodded and glumly followed him. I walked with Hikari. She still held his tag in her hand. I gently took it from her when she held it out for me. I sighed as I placed it in my pocket.

I was extremely upset. TK's crest in my pocket made me even more miserable. Maybe I should have let Hikari hold onto it. I went to walk with Sora and I looked down at Gabumon.

I can't believe Angemon lost his life to LadyDevimon. The evil digimon vanished before he fully disintegrated in front of us. But before he fully disappeared, Angemon gave us a pretty good mental image of what happened. It was a good thing he saw through the illusion at the last second, but I don't think TK understands. I barely heard his last thoughts to TK.

I stepped into the Primary Village and the baby digimon cheered as I saw Hikari went over to play with them. They were all so small compared to when we were younger.

Daisuke and Ken laughed as they were tackled by some of the bigger ones.

"Elecmon?" I looked everywhere for the caretaker. "Hey! Elecmon!"

The little red digimon appeared out of nowhere and carried a digi-egg. "It's been a long time since I saw this egg! Hey! The Digidestined!"

I instantly recognized the orange and white digi-egg. "Patamon!"

Elecmon handed the egg to me. "Where's the little tyke, TK?" He looked around for the bearer of Hope. "Shouldn't he be receiving the egg instead of you?"

I looked around. "TK isn't here? I would expect him to want to make sure his digimon was reconfigured."

Sora came over, carrying a Nyokimon. She let it down and it went after Biyomon. "That's weird. Maybe he thinks we really did attack him."

"But it's not that bad, right? We can just talk to him," Hikari suggested.

I shook my head. Taichi came from behind me. "It's not that easy," her big brother explained. "TK lost his partner once. Before you became a Digidestined, he lost Angemon to Devimon. This time he's being tricked into thinking it was us."

Ken called out from where he was playing with a few baby digimon. "What would they want with TK though?"

Koushiro had taken out his laptop and was working on it. I looked at the computer genius. "Koushiro? Any answer?"

He shook his head. "Not a clear one anyway. Apparently, there's a wide belief that Hope came directly from the Darkness. The Darkness gave need for Hope, because without Hope no one would believe in Light."

"But TK would never want to go near the Darkness, let alone _return_ to it! He hates it," I stated.

Jou straightened his glasses. "But remember, Yamato, he thinks we destroyed his partner. He could have already gone into the Darkness for all we know so far."

I stared at the small egg in my hands. "Not if we get this egg to TK."

Elecmon looked at the little egg. "Well, you guys can take it, but be sure to take very good care of the Poyomon that hatches. I'll keep an eye out for the kid. He might have gotten lost on his way here."

Iori stared at the egg. "Well, before we leave, we have to decide who should keep an eye on the egg."

Hikari volunteered. "I can do it."

I thought about it for a moment. "I guess it's a pretty good idea. Your crest is close to TK's and I have no idea on how to hatch the egg."

Elecmon took the egg from me. "You have to care for it! You know, like a parent."

I smiled sheepishly. "Right." I pulled the Crest of Hope from my pocket. "You should hold on to this too." I handed it back to Hikari.

Taichi looked at both items. "That's a lot of responsibility."

Mimi picked up the egg from Elecmon. "How about Hikari hatches the egg and we take turns taking care of Poyomon? That can make things easier."

"But we can't take care of Poyomon unless we can use the Crest," Miyako said. "Only TK is Hope. The closest we have to that right now is Hikari."

Hikari sighed. "We'll just see how things go. How about that?"

I nodded. "Okay, let's head back home. We'll look for TK tomorrow. On Monday, we'll have to start worrying about school."

At the word school, Daisuke began to sulk. "Thanks for reminding me, Yamato."

Ken smiled. "Did you forget about the summer assignment?"

Daisuke smirked. "I didn't forget. We all did it in the beginning, remember? I'm more worried about the new teachers next year."

"It can't be that bad, Davis. I'll be coming back with you!" Veemon smiled.

Miyako laughed. "At least you guys don't have to worry about starting junior high school."

We exited the Digital World with our digimon and I stared at the computer screen.

"Yamato?" I looked down at Gabumon. He was extremely worried about my well-being. "TK will be alright. He can take care of himself."

I frowned. "I know, but I don't want anything bad to happen to him and us."

Sora pushed me out of the Kamiya's computer room. "You worry too much. Your brother is a good kid."

Biyomon jumped up. "Besides, we can take care of any problem!"

Tentomon and Koushiro agreed. Koushiro packed up his equipment and stood up. "I should get going. I have more research to do."

Hikari looked at the digi-egg. "I hope we find TK soon. He'll definitely want his partner back."

Gatomon nodded. "Just imagine what it would be like to lose me twice, Kari."

I winced. "You can't imagine it. You have to experience it. Something TK had to feel twice. If you want a better analogy, try imagining Wizardmon dying twice."

Gatomon apologized. "Sorry, Matt. I forgot." I apologized, too. That was far too harsh.

Sora and I left with our partners. Before I closed the door, I looked back at Hikari again. "Call me once the egg hatches."

"Okay, Yamato."

I closed the door and saw Taichi climbing up the stairs. He looked tired. "Man! I forgot we moved apartments today. I had to climb up the stairs three times, carrying this!" He pointed at his duffel bag.

Agumon followed behind him. "I offered to help, but you didn't want it."

"Because I forgot where we were going to live from now on!"

"See you tomorrow, Taichi," Sora said with a smile.

"Yeah, I'll see you two tomorrow."

I put my hands into my pockets. "I'll drop you off at your place then go home myself."

Gabumon and Biyomon kept up with our fast pace. They ignored the stares they got from the civilians. The people weren't very used to seeing digimon around. They know about the creatures, but they sort of don't understand how they work.

I fiddled with my Crest of Friendship and ignored the stares. I had more important things to think about. Like how I would find my brother. He could be anywhere in the Digital World or here at home. It was just a good thing Mom and Dad were away. They both had let TK and me stay together until they both got back from their business trips. Man, TK, where are you?


	4. TK's Fights

Notes: Okay, I changed "Destroyed Angel" to include Stingmon because I accidentally forgot about him. It's hard to keep track of all 12 characters and their digimon, mainly because I don't own them in any way. You don't have to reread it because I only changed how TK was attacked. Angemon still gets destroyed at the end of that chapter. It took me a while to write up this chapter because I accidentally had too much soda and that messes with my thinking. But I have it now. Next chapter I write will be in TK's view and will probably have a short recap of this chapter through his eyes.

* * *

~HIKARI~

I sat in my new seat and reflected over the weekend. Where was TK? He's been gone since Saturday afternoon. We spent all day yesterday looking around for him. Even when we decided to cover both the Digital World and the real world, we couldn't find a trace of my best friend.

The news got worse too. We checked back on the Primary Village and almost everything was in ruins. Elecmon was weak when we found him, and he was crying about how a ruthless being appeared and destroyed everything. The baby digimon were safe, thanks to Leomon, but the buildings were burnt to the ground. Elecmon couldn't exactly describe who did it, only that he was dressed in darkness.

I stared at the door to the classroom, hoping TK would suddenly show up. I imagined his bright, goofy smile. It always made people feel better. I blinked as I turned to stare at the backs of Daisuke and Ken.

They sat in front of me talking. Daisuke was pointing out things Ken should know since he just transferred here. Daisuke turned to check if I was all right. "TK will be here, Hikari. He never misses school. Even if he's upset."

Ken turned around. "Besides, once he gets here, you'll be able to give him the egg. Did it hatch yet?"

I looked at the small digi-egg in my bag. I shook my head. I glumly looked at the Crest of Hope I was wearing around my neck. It was right next to my Crest of Light. Both Crests glowed dimly, but TK's crest was fading out. Mine was struggling in keeping its shine.

I heard the bell ring and our new homeroom teacher entered the class. He was about to close the door, when a late student arrived.

"I'm sorry I'm late." I stared at the boy. TK?

He looked different. His normally messy hair was even messier. It was even in a darker shade. His eyes seemed dead. Instead of the clear, light ocean blue, they were a dark, muddy blue. I only knew it was TK because of his signature fisherman hat.

"Well, being late means you can't choose the seat to have. There's only one spot available."

He scanned the room and saw the seat next to me. He scowled. "I understand."

"I hope you aren't going to be late every day, Mister…"

TK slightly winced at the word hope. "Takaishi. Takeru Takaishi."

"Well, Takeru, get seated. I have to take role." Apparently, our new teacher didn't like TK much.

"Where have you been, TK?" Ken whispered as TK walked past.

"None of your business," TK said coolly. He took his seat next to me and scooted his chair all the way to the other side of the table. He removed his hat and placed it in his bag. He moved it as far away from me as possible. He bent down and whispered into it. "It's okay. I'll protect you."

I stared at him confused. "TK?"

He scowled. "Takeru."

I looked at him again. "Since when do you go by your full name?"

He ignored me and carefully took out some papers. I did the same thing and tried to turn my attention to the teacher. I couldn't help but glance at TK though. He intently glared at Ken and Daisuke while writing what was on the board.

Daisuke sensed something wrong with the atmosphere and turned to look at me. I pointed at TK who had avoided getting caught by turning his face slightly towards the board.

Ken turned around too. "What's wrong, TK?"

"Mr. Ichijouji, please tell your friend to turn around. Either pay attention or I'll assign detentions."

Both boys immediately turned around and Takeru went back at glaring at them. Class ended and TK immediately left for his first class. It wasn't like we didn't have different classes, but I was hoping I would have some of the same teachers he did. That way I can talk to him.

I stepped into math with Ken and Daisuke behind me. Daisuke crossed his arms. "We haven't said a thing to him and he treats us like nothing."

"He thinks we destroyed Angemon, remember? He's talking to himself though. Or at least to his backpack." I entered the math class and saw TK seated in the back. "Who wants to talk to him?"

Ken shrugged and walked up to where TK chose to sit. Daisuke and I took our seats in front of TK and Ken. "What's up with you today?"

TK stared at him blankly. "Nothing." He moved his bag away from Ken and checked it again. "It's okay," he cooed in a barely audible whisper.

Daisuke looked at me. "I think he's lost it."

I kicked him lightly. I turned to face TK. "Hey, TK. I have something important to give you."

His glare softened as he thought about what I said. "Important to give me?" He stared at his bag. "Okay. I'll see you after school. In front of the school gates. You will come _alone_."

Ken nervously looked at Daisuke. Daisuke just stared at TK. "She'll be there."

TK ignored him. "Well?"

I thought about it. It would give me a chance to explain to him what had happened without the rest of the team to confuse him with details. "Okay, then, TK. I'll be there."

"Takeru." He scowled.

I turned around as the class bell rang. I looked at the digi-egg in my bag and saw it shake slightly. I poked Daisuke and showed him the egg. He smiled. "That's great!" He turned to TK.

The blonde was busy staring out the window. He saw our digimon out there and sighed as he turned back to his work. We mouthed what was wrong to Ken. He just shrugged.

Nothing happened in the next two classes. Lunch was really interesting though. Iori had the same lunch as us and already saved us spots.

"How were classes, Iori?" Ken asked.

"Okay. I'm the smallest in PE though. We're doing a wrestling unit and they all think I'm an easy opponent."

Daisuke chuckled. "You take kendo!"

Iori shrugged. "They don't know that." He looked around the cafeteria. "Did TK come to school?"

I nodded. "He won't be seeing the digi-egg until later though. He's acting pretty weird today."

At that moment, TK can into the cafeteria with his sack lunch. He sat by himself. The other students noticed something wrong, but didn't approach his table. A few girls that happened to like his basketball skills tried to get close, but they backed away when I saw him whisper to his backpack.

Iori rubbed his eyes. "Is he actually talking to his bag?"

Ken shrugged. "Maybe he has something important in there."

Iori grabbed his tray. "I should try talking to him."

I held him back. "I don't think that's a good idea right now."

Iori looked at me with a puzzled face. Then he saw why. A few bullies in our class were making their way towards TK. "Shouldn't we help him then?"

Daisuke and Ken stood from their seats. Daisuke fixed the goggles on his head. "We're going as a team."

We made our way across the cafeteria. We didn't make it fast enough though. TK was already being pestered by the two bigger boys. "Look at TK! Mr. Basketball has a problem today. Maybe we can help."

"Don't touch my bag," TK warned. His eyes had become cold.

One of the boys picked it up from the table. "Look! I have Takaishi's backpack! What are you going to do about it?" His eyes went wide as TK mercilessly kicked him in the stomach.

TK had already taken back his backpack and walked away. The other wasn't going to let TK get off that easy. "You can't do that!" He placed a hand on TK's shoulder strap. TK's eyes flashed with anger as he grabbed the bully's hand and twisted it.

"I told you. Don't. Touch. My. Bag!" He let go of the boy's hand and punched him in the face. TK straightened out his bag and made sure it was okay. The blonde didn't look back as he left the lunch room.

The four of us Digidestined were frozen in our spots. TK did not just do that.

I closed my eyes and opened them again. No, he did just attack the two strongest bullies in our grade. It was more like self-defense, but I think he went a little overboard.

The boy he kicked was on the ground, clutching his chest. The other one was testing his wrist. TK must have broken something.

"TK did that, right?" Daisuke asked.

Ken nodded. "Yeah. But TK wouldn't do that."

Iori and I went after TK. I turned back. "Let's go find him!"

The two soccer stars ran out after grabbing our things. Ken handed me my bag as Iori took his from Daisuke. Iori looked around the outdoors. He shook his head. "TK's gone."

We were going to look for him, but the lunch bell rang. We had to get back to class. I sat down in my assigned seat and put down my bag when I heard the school intercom turn on.

"Takeru Takaishi, please come to the principal's office. Takeru Takaishi, to the principal's office."

I heard a sigh from another aisle as the boy took his bag with him to the office. I stared at his bag and thought I saw a black and blue object in there. It was covered by his white hat, but I was able to see a part of it. What was so important about it?

The class was assigned to read a book in English when TK came back. He set his bag down gently. He whispered to it again and smiled. He put a slip of paper into his pocket and took out his book and began to catch up on what he missed.

When English ended, so did school. I walked with TK to the front of the gate. He made sure his bag was facing away from me as he walked.

"TK?" I asked cautiously.

"Takeru," he said.

I ignored him. "What's in there that's so important? You got detention because of it."

His eyes flashed in annoyance. "You don't have to know. Now what is it you want to give me?"

I took out the small digi-egg. "It's for you, TK. I have your crest, too."

His eyes widened. "A digi-egg? You destroy Angemon and think that another digimon can help me?"

I looked at him in disbelief. "This is your digimon!"

He shook his head, trying to control his growing rage. "No! I have a digimon already! And a new Crest! I don't need a new digimon to ruin me!" He slapped the egg out of my hand.

I dove for it and caught it. "What is wrong with you, TK?" Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Gatomon on the school roof. She instantly tried to climb down to help me.

I stood back up and saw my brother. Taichi was walking towards the school and saw TK. "TK! What are you doing?" My big brother approached him and reached his shoulder.

"Taichi! Don't!"

Too late. Taichi's hand was already on TK's shoulder strap. TK swiftly kicked Taichi's leg and he went down.

"TK!" I grabbed his bag, hoping it would stop him.

Yamato was right behind me and caught TK's fist as it was about to hit me. "Hey! What are you doing? Hikari is your best friend!"

Taichi managed to get up and I opened the bag to see what was in it. TK's eyes widened as he struggled to get his hand free. "No! Patamon!"

He kicked his brother in the stomach using his knee. Yamato buckled over and let go. His younger brother tore the bag out of my hands after turning around to punch Taichi squarely in the jaw. I was stunned when I thought I saw another digi-egg in his bag.

"Patamon! Don't worry! I'll protect you. She won't hurt you this time." He ran off and I bolted after him.

He turned a corner and I immediately followed. But when I turned, he was already gone. "TK!"

I went back to help Taichi and Yamato off the ground. Gatomon waited patiently with them. She shook her head in disbelief when I handed her Poyomon's egg. Taichi rubbed his jaw. "Where did your brother learn how to fight like that? That hurt, man."

Yamato leaned on me as he rubbed his stomach. "You don't think we taught him, do you?"

Taichi chuckled lightly. "We punched each other. We never kicked the other with such force. Are you okay, Hikari?" I nodded. "Thanks for protecting her, Matt."

Yamato nodded. "No problem, but did you see where TK go?"

I shook my head. "He just disappeared."

Daisuke, Ken, and Iori were waiting under a tree. When they saw the three of us, they knew things didn't go well.

Iori frowned. "That's the second time he got into a fight today. That's not like him at all."

Taichi sat down under the tree. Yamato lay down under the shade. The blonde thought about it in disbelief. "A fight? With who?"

Daisuke smiled wryly. "With the two school bullies in our grade. He won after cracking a rib and breaking a wrist."

Taichi stood up in shock. "What? TK breaking someone's wrist? That is really unlike him."

I shrugged. "It's pretty understandable since he was protecting another digi-egg."

Ken looked at me in confusion. "Another egg? For what digimon? We have Poyomon's egg right here."

Gatomon lifted the orange and white egg up. "What did the other egg look like, Kari?"

"I don't really know for sure, but it was blue and black."

Gatomon kind of scowled. "Those colors remind me of DemiDevimon."

Veemon scratched his head. "Who is that?"

Wormmon looked up at Ken. "Didn't you read a file about a digimon named that, Ken?"

Taichi explained. "DemiDevimon was a little bat digimon that tried manipulating us into never activating our Crests. He almost helped Myotismon defeat us. It was a good thing we had Wizardmon's help or we would have lost for sure."

Yamato nodded. "We thought DemiDevimon was destroyed when VenomMyotismon ate him to gain extra power."

Iori stood up. Armadillomon got up with him. "We're going to have to talk about this later. Grandfather needs me to help clean the kendo studio."

Yamato glanced at his watch. "Yeah, I have to leave, too. My dad got back in town and I have to move out of TK's apartment."

"Do you need company, Matt?" I asked. I knew that Taichi, Daisuke, and Ken would have to get to soccer practice. I was going to head home, but maybe TK would be in his apartment.

"Sure, if you want. I doubt that TK will be there though."

"Just in case he is, watch my sister, Matt," Taichi said. He grabbed his sports duffel and walked off with Ken, Wormmon, Daisuke, and Veemon.

Gatomon called out after him, "Don't forget that I'm here. I won't let anyone hurt her!"

She handed me back the digi-egg and I smiled. The three of us walked to the Takaishi apartment. The streets were quiet and I couldn't help but look back at where TK vanished. He had a habit of doing that now.

I walked into TK's apartment as Yamato let me in. We were greeted by Gabumon as we took off our shoes.

"Hey! I thought you were back already, Yamato. I heard the door open while I was asleep and thought it was you."

Yamato looked around curiously. "It could have been TK."

Gabumon shook his head. "Whoever it was went into your room looking for something. I thought it was you because no one goes into your room unless they want to live."

Yamato didn't quite catch the last part. He had already run into the guest room. "Hikari! TK was here."

I heard a crash in the room and rushed to see what happened. The teenager was tangled in rope. TK had somehow managed to set up a trap for Yamato. There was a note on the ground and I picked it up.

"It's written in TK's handwriting," I said as Gatomon and Gabumon cut the rope loose. "It says, 'don't bother looking for me or staying here, Yamato. I'll be fine as long as you Digidestined keep your distance. I won't be staying at home anyways. Whatever you plan to do with that egg Hikari tried giving me, I don't care. But I will destroy it and the partner it receives. Takeru.' That's not like him." I looked up. "Why would he want to destroy Poyomon?"

Yamato stood up and read the note for himself. "He thinks that he has the Poyomon egg. He was calling it Patamon when he ran off." I stared at the note with worry.

I took the digi-egg out of my bag. "Maybe we should give it back to Elecmon so he can take care of it." I walked out and decided to check out TK's room.

I opened the door to his room and Gatomon checked to make sure it was safe. "It's all clear, Hikari."

I looked at my partner. "I don't think TK would have rigged his room. He would think we wouldn't mess with his things. After all, coming in here would have us checking the room twice a day." I set the digi-egg on the desk and giggled at how organized TK kept his room.

His clothes were neatly hung in his closet. A hook was on his wall for his two very special hats. One was missing since he had it. The other he can never wear again because he had grown out of it. His desk was clear of loose papers. Pencils were neatly placed in a cup with a sharpener right next to it. Picture frames sat on against the edge of the desk. More were lined up on the night stand next to his alarm clock. I noticed one of them and smiled at the memory.

It was a picture of just the eight of the older Digidestined. It was right before we had to take the bus back home. TK and I were in the center because we were the smallest and youngest. The two of us sat on the ground, cross-legged. Yamato kneeled behind TK with his hands in his pockets. Taichi kneeled behind me with his thumbs up. Sora was between them with her arms around the two older boys. Jou, Mimi, and Koushiro stood in the back with Koushiro on the right holding his laptop under his arm. Mimi was in the center shielding her eyes from the sun. Jou had his arms crossed and held a determined grin on his face. All of our digimon had gone Ultimate with the exception of two Mega forms.

I moved on to the picture next to it. I smiled as I picked up the familiar photo. It was a copy of a picture I had. TK and I stood side by side. It was a funny picture as I was wearing his green hat while he wore my whistle. MagnaAngemon stood behind TK while Angewomon stayed near me. They were smiling down at us as TK held up the whistle quizzically. I was laughing in the picture. I remember the reason being that I thought I looked funny wearing his hat.

"Hikari!" I looked up at Gatomon. She pointed at the rocking digi-egg.

I hurried over to the table and checked to see if it was alright. "It's hatching!"

Yamato rushed in with Gabumon when Gatomon called for them. Yamato smiled at the tiny white mush-like digimon. "Poyomon!" His eyes then filled with sadness. "TK…"

I looked down at the baby digimon. It looked around for TK. "I'm sorry," I said to him. "TK isn't here."

The digimon turned to look at me. It smiled and nodded in understanding. Gatomon climbed up the table and looked at Poyomon for herself. "We're going to have to bring him home."

Yamato was sheepish. "I would take him with me, but my dad wouldn't want me to have to watch two digimon. Your parents will be okay, right?"

I nodded. "They can't say no to a little baby digimon." I picked up the little Poyomon and giggled as he was feeling sleepy. "Gatomon, you can sleep in my bed tonight. I'll have to use your small bed for Poyomon."

Gatomon shrugged. "Okay. But don't expect me to be babysitting him."

Yamato smiled and he waited as we left the apartment. Gabumon followed him, carrying a few things. Yamato picked up his backpack and locked the door. As we stepped into the elevator, he pressed two extra buttons before pressing the button to the lobby. "We can't leave TK or Poyomon out of our sight. If TK sees Poyomon without us near, we can't for certain know if it'll be a good thing or bad."

I nodded as I carried the sleeping Poyomon in my arms. "I'll tell Taichi and the rest of the team then."

Yamato nodded. "I'll tell the other older Digidestined. Be sure to keep an eye out for my little brother."

I nodded and waved goodbye as I stepped onto Miyako's floor. He smiled and closed the elevator door. I looked down at Gatomon. She smirked. "We can handle any problem. Let's go or we'll miss dinner."

I laughed as we walked down the hall. I stared at Poyomon. He looked so vulnerable. He was right next to TK's crest and it was glowing slightly brighter than before. Was it because of me, or was it reacting to how TK was feeling about something else?


	5. Patamon or DemiDevimon

Notes: I just make up the story as I go along, but I always include what I'm trying to say. It might not make sense, but I try to get my main idea across. This chapter is split into two characters' perspectives. The first being TK's. Just remember that he's stuck in an illusion. Other than that, things are pretty much clear if you've been reading.

* * *

~TAKERU~

I stared at my sleeping Rookie partner. He had digivolved so fast during the past few days. That was a good sign. It meant that my new crest was working. I was trying so hard to meet up to its standards.

I stared at the grey tag I was wearing. I smiled as I fiddled with it. Protection. That's what it was. To have the power to protect everything you care about. All I have to do is believe that I can protect Patamon and that he can protect me in return. That will give us the power to defend ourselves against my ex-friends.

I looked down at my homework. It wasn't important, but there wasn't much I can do right now. I picked up the pencil and looked at the math assignment given to me on Monday. It was due Friday and that was tomorrow.

I couldn't help but think back on what happened on the first day of school. I scowled as I thought about all those people trying to hurt my digi-egg. No one was going to hurt Patamon ever again. Not while I have my new crest.

After school was even worse. Did Hikari really think a new partner and my old crest was a good thing? I looked at it and saw evil. What was she thinking? I turned to see Patamon roll over in his sleep. I covered him in a blanket and petted his head.

They wanted to give me back my crest too. Or maybe they were trying to lure me in to take away my new crest. It was hard to tell what they were going to do. I used to be able to see things so clearly, but now, I'm confused as to what they want from me.

I thought back a little farther. To the day I ran away from where Angemon was destroyed again. I had run into forest, not bothering to turn back to where my friends would be waiting. I had gotten lost and taken out my digivice, but it malfunctioned. I cried out but only my loneliness answered.

"Patamon!" I fell down and began to sob. Not cry, just sob. I choked a little and lifted my head up. Everything had gone dark and the night air was cold. I didn't notice how fast the time had gone by.

_TK…_ I looked around. _Are you ready to return?_ I shook my head. I had nowhere to go. Home wasn't safe anymore since Yamato would be waiting to attack. I mentally kicked myself for tossing my tag. They had wanted it, hadn't they? They probably had picked it up and that was why Hikari wanted to give it back.

I stared back into the darkness and walked towards it. "Maybe I can. But the others…" _They don't need you. You saw what they did to you_. "Angemon… I have to get him back."

I had walked into the shadows and I was able to be anywhere in the Digital World I wanted. I found myself in the Primary Village. I saw Elecmon and was going to greet him. He didn't greet me in the same way.

"Intruder! Stop right there!" The small digimon crouched down.

"Elecmon, it's me, TK."

He didn't really hear me or something because he attacked. "I warned you! Super Thunder Strike!"

I jumped out of the way. I turned to run down the streets. I saw Leomon and he stared at me. I shouted to him. "Leomon! Hey, it's me! TK!"

He growled at me. "Elecmon! Do you need help with protecting the baby digimon?"

"Yeah! We can't have this place destroyed by that thing!"

I stared at the small digimon. "What? I'm not the enemy."

I cursed and ran around them and tried to look for the digi-egg that would be Patamon's. I tried to look around for it in the dark, but luck wasn't on my side today.

I felt the shadows guide me though. I followed them blindly. I turned back to see a very angry Elecmon chase after me. I stopped. "What do you want?"

He paused. "I'm trying to protect the village! What do you need here?"

"I'm looking for a digi-egg," I said calmly.

"Why?"

I didn't answer because I noticed a glinting light coming from the village. It was shining and I felt a little hope rise within me. It could be Patamon! I ran in that direction, leaving behind a very confused caretaker.

I ran and felt my breathing hitch as I stared at the marvelous egg. He was reconfigured! I reached out to take it, but the darkness held me back. _Not yet. It won't hatch with Hope this time. You'll need a different trait_.

I stared at the egg in dismay. "But, Patamon needs me." _Take this Crest then._

I reached out over the egg and grabbed the grey tag. I felt the power surge within me as I placed it around my neck. I smiled when I realized the sense of Protection emanating around me. I reached for the Patamon egg and smiled.

"Don't worry, Patamon. This time, I won't fail you. It's just going to be you and me." Elecmon was nearing me, but I had vanished. To where I was staying at now.

I turned back to my homework to scribble down the answer to the final problem and packed up my work. I stared into the forest of the Digital World. I looked out the window of the castle I was in. This was a pretty nice place, but none of the digimon came close to this place. They had said it was haunted.

I climbed into bed and stared at the clock that ran on the time in the real world. It's going to be seven hours until I have to wake up. That's okay; I need sleep anyways.

I woke up with Patamon flying around the room. He seemed excited. "I get to see the real world today, right?"

I rubbed my eyes trying to figure out what he was talking about. I then remembered that I had made a promise to bring him to the real world once he was strong enough. "I don't know Patamon, you're still a Rookie. I was hoping I could get you to Champion so you can defend yourself."

"I can fight, TK! Why don't you trust me?"

I looked at my partner. He really wanted to go out. I could only comply; after all, I wasn't the one who had to be reconfigured twice. "Alright, buddy. Let me get ready first." I threw the covers off me and made my way to the bathroom.

After thirty minutes, I was ready. I was going to have to get school breakfast as I didn't have any food here in the castle.

I went into the familiar living room of the castle. I stared at the television in there. I went through the portal with Patamon behind me. I made sure no one saw me come from behind the tree near school.

"Okay, I have classes until a little after noon. I'll be out for lunch, okay?"

Patamon nodded. "I'll be out exploring. It's been a while since I was here, TK."

I waved goodbye as I rushed into the school building. I smiled as I entered homeroom. I took my seat next to Hikari and made sure to avoid eye contact with her or any of the other Digidestined.

The teacher came in and took role. He didn't have any news today, so he let the class do whatever we wanted. I decided to walk over to the window so I can try to find Patamon. I smiled as I saw the little guy fly around some of the trees.

I grabbed my backpack as class ended and noticed Hikari staring at me curiously. "You seem happy today, Takeru."

I frowned. "TK. Of course, I'm happy." I tried to walk away, but it was no good because we had the same first period.

"Are you going to give us a chance to explain, Takeru?"

"Stop calling me that. It's TK," I said. "Plus, I gave you a chance and you went ahead and tried to attack me and Patamon."

I took my seat next to Ken and scooted my chair back. Ken raised an eyebrow at me. "That wasn—"

"Mr. Ichijoui, Takaishi, and Ms. Kamiya. Class has started. Please work on your warm-up."

I nodded to the teacher. Hikari reluctantly turned around. Daisuke looked back at me. He frowned and went back to work. Ken took out a pencil and worked out the problem. He finished early and stared at me. I ignored it and turned my attention to the window.

I couldn't see Patamon, but I had a feeling he was doing alright.

* * *

~GATOMON~

Well, since Hikari was at school, I had to be in charge of watching the newly digivolved In-Training digimon. It wasn't like Tokomon couldn't take care of himself; it was just that Hikari didn't want TK overreacting if he saw his partner.

"Maybe you should take a break, Gatomon," the white digimon said.

I looked at him doubtfully. "I don't know. Hikari and Yamato want me to protect you."

Veemon smiled. "We're here. We can take care of anything that comes up."

Wormmon nodded. "It's been a few days since he digivolved."

"Tokomon can handle himself too," Armadillomon added.

Tokomon nodded madly. "I'll keep out of TK's sight." His face saddened.

"See? That's why I should stay."

Tokomon puffed up in defiance. "I can watch myself! I'm a little sad about TK, but I'll manage. You really deserve a break."

I sighed. No point with arguing him with the others behind him. "I'll be back before classes end then."

I climbed up a tree and thought about where I could go. I decided to visit the place Wizardmon died. It was the closest place I could be with my old friend.

I stood on the empty roof and looked out over Odaiba. I don't know why, but whenever I'm up here, I start to talk to myself. Or maybe it's to Wizardmon. Like I somehow know that he's still partly alive, listening to me. "What do you do when your friend dies, Wizardmon? If I was TK, how would I feel about watching the same friend die twice?"

I thought about what Yamato had said. Try to imagine Wizardmon die twice. I don't think I can ever try to imagine that. It's hard to even think about that memory. But it did allow me to digivolve.

"Mourning over a dead friend, Gatomon? I didn't think that you'd be the type to cry."

I turned around to face DemiDevimon. "What are you doing here?"

"Just roaming around before that kid gets out of school."

I got to my feet. "I was right! That was your egg!"

The stupid bat stuck his tongue out at me. "Just think! I can become stronger than you with the kid on my side."

I took a menacing step forward. "Knowing you, I bet you work for someone else. You're still the weak spineless bat you were before Myotismon destroyed you."

"Hah! I've grown a lot stronger since then. It's true I'm working for someone else, but it's alright." He flew up and sneered. "I mean, for the past week, I've been training with the kid."

"Do you even know his name?" I growled.

"Does it even matter? As long as he thinks I'm that other pig thing, I can beat you and all of the other Digidestined in one go!"

That's it. I jumped at him. "Lightning Paw!"

He flew out of the way and I fell off the building. My eyes widened as I grabbed onto one of the outcrops on the side of the building. He smiled. "Is that all? My turn! Demi Dart!"

He started throwing those darts and I dodged them. I managed to get down from the building and lure him down. I tackled him and he looked at a clock through a window.

"Whatever! Time for me to get back to that kid!" He flew towards the school and I chased after him.

"No you don't!" I pounced on him, but he slipped away.

DemiDevimon smirked at me. "What are you going to do?" He kept flying towards the school.

"Come back here!" I yelled.

"Gatomon!" I heard Hikari near me.

I prepared for one final strike. "Lightning Paw!"

DemiDevimon had stopped in midair and stared at me. He seemed confident. He wasn't even trying to dodge me. Then I knew why. TK was making his way towards us. He got in between me and my target. It was already too late for me to stop my attack.

My paw collided with TK and he was knocked over. His body shielded DemiDevimon's and I immediately backed away. His arched back slowly straightened as he took an even longer time to turn towards me.

"Are you alright?" He was addressing the bat.

"I sure am, kid." DemiDevimon smirked at me.

"TK! Are you alright?" Hikari stopped behind me. She knelt down to stop me from attacking the digimon.

TK glared at her. "Why would I be alright when my best friend's partner tried to destroy Patamon _again_?" He took a menacing step forward. "Any explanation?"

"That's not your partner, TK!"

"TK? You're still calling me that! It's Takeru! I hate that name! And I don't need to listen to your lies! Patamon is my partner and always will be!" His face was burning with anger. "I told you all to stay away from me!"

Hikari, being stubborn like Taichi, began to yell. "We're trying to help you, TK! And I'm telling you that's not your partner!"

DemiDevimon smirked. "I am his partner! He doesn't need you all bringing him down!"

TK turned to look at the sly bat. "Let's go back, DemiDevimon."

I scowled. Talking to his digimon directly made him call him by his real name, but he doesn't realize it. In third person, he calls him Patamon. That's too confusing unless you pay attention.

They turned to walk away, but I wasn't letting him off that easy. "TK! Do you really think what you're doing is right? We're your friends."

He stopped and looked down at me. "Friends don't kill each other willingly, do they?"

He turned around the corner and Hikari yelled out one last time, "TK!"

I turned around to see the others standing there. Daisuke looked away. Ken was holding back his anger. Iori just frowned and stared at where TK was. The digimon had formed a shield around Tokomon. The tiny digimon had seen TK and heard what he had said.

He crawled around them and approached a near crying Hikari. She looked down at him and knelt to pick us up. I instantly felt guilty for taking the break. Tokomon mouthed that he was sorry to me. I guess he felt bad for offering me the chance to relax.

I shook my head to tell him that it was partly my fault too. I looked back at Hikari who still staring at the corner. "Don't worry, Hikari," I said.

"TK will come back," Tokomon tried to say. "We just have to get him to see the truth."

Daisuke came up with Veemon. "There's no soccer practice today. Iori is free too. Do you want us to walk you home?"

Hikari shook her head. "I'll be alright. I just have to be alone to think."

Tokomon and I were carried back to her apartment. She let us down and we went to the television. Hikari went to her room and locked herself in there. I watched the door shut and sighed.

Tokomon stared out the door leading to the balcony. "I have to digivolve!"

I stared at the In-Training digimon. "But you can't. Not without TK."

He shook his head. "I'll find a way. I have to see TK as at least a Rookie!"

I doubt that he could digivolve. We still didn't know how he digivolved without TK. Maybe he did get help from TK. We just don't know for certain because we don't even see TK around Odaiba.

I answered the door when I heard some knocking. Koushiro and Tentomon came in. The genius smiled at us. "Is Hikari or Taichi here?"

Tentomon was buzzing in excitement. "We've got great news!"

"Usually whenever you two have good news, it comes with a set of bad news," I grumbled.

Hikari opened the door slightly. "Koushiro? What is it?"

Tokomon walked over to him as the boys connected the charger to his laptop. "Okay, I've been doing some research on the Digital World and I found a few places that aren't marked on the maps. TK's digivice has been inactive, but I found a few reports on digimon being attacked around there. Maybe it's TK fighting."

Hikari looked over his shoulder. "Why aren't they charted?"

Koushiro nervously glanced at us. "Those black places on the map are said to be haunted so no digimon ever goes there."

"What about Gennai?" I asked.

"Gennai says that he can't go near it without risking his life. There's also a force that keeps most of the strong digimon out."

"Can't we explore it ourselves?" Tokomon asked.

Tentomon shook his head. "There's no way to. We ran a test and all signals leading into the area never came back. If you were to go in there, you would have no map or guide."

"Besides," Koushiro added, "we need to narrow down the location on where TK might be. At least we know that TK's not staying here in the real world. He feels threatened by us. He only comes back every day for school, so he doesn't raise the suspicion of anyone outside of the Digital World."

"But he worries us by acting so strangely!" Kari cried out.

Koushiro flinched. "Calm down. I'm doing the best I can. You're not the only one worried, you know." He packed up his laptop and carried it under his arm. "Oh! I heard about DemiDevimon." He frowned. "I really thought we took care of him."

Hikari sighed. "Yeah, but what can we do now? Without TK, we don't have Hope."

Tokomon stared at her with a determined expression. "That's not how we should think! We can't give up on hope just because TK isn't here. If he were thinking the way he should be, he'd want you to believe in the best!"

Hikari stared at TK's partner. She thought about it slowly. She turned to Koushiro. He nodded. "He's right. We'll all have to want the best outcome. Oikawa didn't sacrifice his life for nothing."

He left the apartment and Hikari went back into her room. Before closing her door, she yelled out to us. "You're definitely right, Tokomon. If I can just hold up TK's Hope, we'll get through this problem."

I smiled. Tokomon did too. I managed to open the door to the balcony and we stared out at Odaiba. He stopped smiling after a while. "Do you really think that I was right?"

I shrugged. "Maybe, but who knows? What matters now is getting you to digivolve."

Tokomon stared intently at the school. "I don't really exactly know how, but I felt two sources of hope when I digivolved from Poyomon. Maybe Hikari _and_ TK need to help me become higher leveled."

I partly understood, but then again, I partly didn't understand. I sat on the ledge just staring out into the open air. "I just wish we had something to show us exactly what to do," I muttered.


	6. Training

Notes: Nothing to say this time except maybe that I don't own Digimon. I don't have much to say about TK right now except that he's very confused and somewhat crazy. I tried a bit of foreshadowing, but I'm not very good at being subtle. As an extra note, I published this on the start of Chinese New Year.

* * *

~TAICHI~

I tried to ignore my sister as I slept. It was not going well since Agumon and Gatomon were shouting out ideas at Tokomon. I grabbed my pillow over my head and tried to block out the sound.

Finally, there was silence. I relaxed and tried to find sleep, but then Hikari began to bang on the door. "Taichi! Taichi, wake up!"

I groaned as I got out of bed. I bumped into the door and opened it. "I'm trying to sleep!" My eyes were slightly closed so I opened them. "Patamon?"

The orange digimon was flying around the living room in excitement. "I digivolved! Now I can take on DemiDevimon!"

Hikari smirked at me. Agumon was trying to catch the other Rookie while Gatomon watched them. I rubbed my eyes and stretched. "It's Saturday. Why can't I sleep?"

Hikari hit my head. "We're going to the Digital World, remember? We're going to see where TK might be."

I sighed. "Fine. What time is it?" I went back into my room and grabbed a set of fresh clothes.

"Almost ten. We're supposed to be there at twelve. But I'm going early with Koushiro and Yamato."

I walked towards the bathroom. "Okay then. I'll go with you. It's a good thing soccer practice is cancelled."

I quickly took a shower and changed. I dried my hair with a towel and stared at my reflection. I smirked and began to brush my teeth.

I exited the bathroom and sat next to Agumon on the couch. Hikari walked into the bathroom with her own items and shut the door. The reptile digimon looked at me. "Taichi? Are you worried about TK?"

I nodded. "He's one of the strongest out of all of us. You know that."

"But you don't show it."

I smiled. "Because if I show the others that I worry, they'll worry even more. Besides, I can't worry more than Yamato, can I? TK is his brother, not mine. We'll take down the enemy together, Agumon."

Gatomon came out of the kitchen with snacks. Patamon flew around carrying soda. The catlike digimon set the stuff on the table and turned to me. "We don't really know what's wrong though. We just can't go headfirst into the problem."

I nodded. "I'm not that impulsive, Gatomon."

Patamon laughed. "You didn't change much, Taichi."

"Hey!" I stood up. "I did change!"

Hikari came out of the bathroom. She was ready to go. "Okay! Taichi, what's going on?" She stared at me trying to chase down Patamon.

I nervously laughed. "We were just talking."

Agumon chuckled at me as he drank some soda. "Let's get going!"

I grabbed my tag from my room and put it on. It glowed at once and I ran out of the apartment. I locked the door and followed my sister down the stairs.

We walked to the elementary school and saw Yamato already there with Koushiro. My best friend stared at the computer while trying to get Koushiro to hurry up.

Koushiro looked at us. "It's a good thing you two are here. Someone get this guy out of here!" He pointed at Yamato who was still egging him to hurry.

I pulled Yamato away from the computer. "Dude, calm down. It's okay. Izzy will get us through this."

The blonde stopped struggling. "Sorry, Tai. It's just that TK is there and I want to know that he's alright!"

Hikari sat next to Koushiro. "We know he's okay. We've seen him at school every day."

Yamato frowned. "But I want to know what he does after that."

Koushiro leaned into the computer. "What is that?"

Tentomon looked over his shoulder. "Someone is fighting or something. But it's red so I don't know what that symbolizes."

"I'm sending you three into the Digital World. Everyone should be coming soon, but this can't wait." Koushiro typed in a few things and got the program opened. "I'll be there with the rest of the team soon."

I felt the portal take me in and I fell into the forest. I hated when that happened. My fall was broken by a pile of leaves and I was glad. I stood up and brushed them off.

Agumon leapt up and the two of us surveyed the land. "We've never been here before, Taichi."

I took out my digivice and struggled to find a signal. I walked a bit out of the dead forest and found one. "Koushiro? You there?"

"Taichi? That's a relief. I thought I lost you. You were in the uncharted territory. Yamato and Hikari are in the fields of grass east of you. It's just going to be the three of you. Everyone is almost here, but it's better if we have them as backup."

"Okay, fine. Just tell us where to go."

I met up with Yamato as he was examining some burnt grass. "Why is there always fire damage?"

Gabumon shrugged. "It gets out of hand quickly. That's best for mass destruction."

Gatomon and Patamon turned towards the forest. Patamon walked closer towards it. I turned to see what he was going to do. "Any ideas, Patamon?"

"Maybe we should risk going in there to look for TK," he whispered.

I looked down at Agumon. He scratched his head. "I don't really think that it's a good idea. We don't have any way to reach Koushiro."

Koushiro voice came from my digivice. "That problem is easily taken care of. I just found something strange south of you guys. I'm sending in Daisuke, Ken, and Miyako. Meet them there."

Our group moved to find out the problem. We had trouble since Koushiro was busy telling Daisuke about the enemy. I sprinted forward and saw them fighting against some Bakemon.

"Veemon!" Daisuke shouted as his partner fell down in defeat. "Hey! You guys can't do that!"

The largest grinned at him. "We just did!" He turned to his crowd to look at something behind them. He shivered and told his group to attack.

"Pepper Breath!" Agumon jumped in to protect them.

Veemon got back to his feet. "Vee-Headbutt!" He knocked down one of his opponents.

I looked around to see if I could help. I walked away from the chaos and noticed Hikari and Yamato were missing. Their digimon were in the fight, but they had walked off.

I called out for them and heard yelling. I turned back to the fight against the Bakemon and noticed that they were winning. "Agumon! Digivolve!"

"Agumon digivolve to…"

"Greymon! Nova Blast!"

The others got out of the battle zone. They hurriedly had their digimon digivolve. "Digi-Armor Energize!"

"Veemon armor digivolve to…"

"Flamedramon, the Fire of Courage. Fire Knuckle!"

"Wormmon digivolve to…"

"Stingmon! Spiking Strike!"

"Hawkmon armor digivolve to…"

"Halsemon, the Wings of Love. Tempest Wing!" That attack seemed to do the trick as the Bakemon flew backwards.

When everything cleared, I saw Yamato and Hikari charging towards a shadow. Yamato tackled it and we ran to see who it was.

I'd like to say it was TK, but this wasn't TK. It was just some kid who looked a lot like the TK I know. Now, TK has medium blonde hair and clear light blue eyes. This guy has really dark blonde hair and the most intense eyes ever. They stared at you and you want to die. He was wearing lightweight black armor.

Yamato was still on top of the kid. He stared at the smaller boy who just shoved him off. "Weaklings! All of you!" He was talking about the group of Bakemon.

The Bakemon behind us tried to get up, but Greymon and the others scared them into staying there. The armored boy made a face of disgust. He toyed with a small necklace hanging from his neck.

"Who are you?" Ken demanded.

The boy took that time to notice us. "Really, Ken? Oh well. I didn't think you'd recognize me like this anyways. You can call me the Protector of the Digital World." He turned back at the Bakemon. "Are you all going to move or what?"

The Bakemon stared between the boy and our digimon. They immediately shot up. "Yes, sir!" They ran away and the boy laughed at the sight.

Hikari frowned as he laughed. "I don't see anything amusing about that."

He turned back towards us and gave us a look of contempt. "Why do I care what you think? I'll see you later."

I noticed Patamon fly over near him. "TK?"

The boy froze. He stared at the flying Rookie. "You? I remember you. You're DemiDevimon. You're with them? You're that egg they tried to offer me?" He was half talking to himself.

Okay, so I was wrong. This was TK. But that meant that the real DemiDevimon was close by. With the illusions taking over his mind, talking to him won't help.

Yamato was kneeling on the ground on one knee. He stared at his little brother. "TK? Are you alright?"

His head sharply turned towards Yamato. "You replaced me and Patamon with DemiDevimon?" The younger boy was seething now.

I stepped in between the brothers. "TK, you should calm down." I took another step towards the kid and he tackled into me.

Patamon tried to help to get him off me, but DemiDevimon appeared to attack us. "Demi Dart!"

Patamon flew out of the way and stared at the bat. "I beat you once! I can do it again."

DemiDevimon sneered. "Yeah, but you had the kid's help. This time, he's on my side."

Gatomon jumped at the bat. "You're going down, DemiDevimon."

I rolled TK onto his back and got out of his clutches. He stood up and immediately tried to punch me. Daisuke and Yamato held him back, but TK kicked them down. He hurriedly shielded DemiDevimon with his body before Patamon and Gatomon could attack.

"DemiDevimon! Let's go! We're going to train twice as hard and twice as long! Anything to protect the Digital World!"

DemiDevimon sneered at us again as the digimon couldn't risk hurting TK. TK looked back at us before entering the forest. He shook his head and disappeared inside the dense trees.

I heard a sigh from Koushiro. "I have more bad news, guys. This mainly concerns you, Ken. Someone hacked into my files filled with information about your Dark Spirals."

Ken froze up. "Do you have any idea who?"

"I don't know because there was no way someone could hack into my laptop. Someone had to have enough skill to get into my computer from the Digital World. It might even be a digimon."

I groaned. "So we're lost! What are we supposed to do now?"

Miyako thought about it. "We have to go back. We'll keep an eye on TK and if he does anything, we'll be there to stop him or get information out of him."

Hikari nodded. "That might be a good idea. But that means someone has to monitor the computer at all times."

Koushiro sighed. "I'm getting you guys out right now. Hold on."

I felt myself disappear and I landed on the ground of the computer lab. I smiled, but then felt someone collapse on top of me. "Hey! Watch it."

"Sorry, Taichi," Hikari said. She got up and I felt another three people fall on me. "Here let me help you up, Gatomon."

Patamon flew up while Agumon got his heavy body off of mine. I picked myself up and straightened my clothes. "Why do I always have to fall?"

Yamato scowled. He wasn't up for any jokes. "I'm going home." He turned to leave the classroom. No one followed him.

I felt bad that I could do nothing for him. Gabumon waited a few seconds before following his partner out the door. "I'll see you guys later."

Koushiro was typing in a code into the computer. "There! I created a program to help us see into the uncharted territory. It's like a small robot camera we can use." He closed the computer after copying the code into his laptop. "I'm going to spend the rest of the day to improve it."

"Do you need help, Izzy?" Jou asked. Koushiro nodded and the two of them left.

Daisuke leaned against the wall. "I guess we have nothing else to do. Anyone up for a game of soccer?"

Sora and I raised our hands immediately. We had a friendly glaring contest. "Don't look at me like that, Taichi. It's not my fault you lose most of the time."

Ken and Daisuke pushed us out of the room to get our game started. Us goggle heads vs. Ken and Sora. I looked back at Hikari and she smiled. "Mimi, Miyako, Iori, and I are going to the mall, Taichi." I nodded and raced out after Ken.

On the field, I kicked the ball up high to get it on top of my head. I passed it to Daisuke and he shot it into the goal. I finished up my stretching before tossing myself in our game. Veemon and Agumon were in the field with Daisuke while I played goalie.

Ken stood at the opposite goal as Sora maneuvered across the field. She kicked the ball at me and I caught it. I tossed it towards Daisuke and stuck my tongue out at her. The two of us silently laughed as we tried to get TK off our minds.

* * *

~TAKERU~

I looked at the scenes of the real world. It was typical of them to be playing soccer, toying with their computers, and shopping. Yamato was the only one who had gone back home. Of course, big brother always did that. Right now, he was asleep on his bed.

I scoffed as I turned away from the screens. I stared at my training clothes. They were fully black with white trimmings at the edges and sides. I stretched and took a sip of water.

Patamon looked at me. "Is there anything wrong, TK?" I shook my head. "Let's get back to training then."

I nodded and stood up. "Begin!" Our trainer stood nearby and activated the process.

The two of us ran through the obstacle course that was set up. I dodged the flying equipment and ignored the impacts some of the objects caused as they hit me. To protect things, I had to face pain. I had to be able to endure it so I can keep going.

"Boom Bubble!" Patamon shot at one of the targets.

I kept near him to see if I can protect him from incoming danger. "Patamon, left!"

He tackled into a target in that direction. I caught up with him, but my footing messed up. I tripped and braced myself for an attack. I waited for a while before standing up and noticing that the training illusion was gone.

I looked at our trainer. I hung my head. "I'm sorry. I failed."

"If that were a real scenario, you would have been dead!" Azulongmon roared. Patamon just stood near me, not answering. It wouldn't help if he did. "How do you expect to protect the Digital World by being dead?"

I flinched. "I'll try harder!"

"I'm changing the targets! They will be in the image of the other Digidestined. If you can't fight them, don't expect to return to the living quarters tonight."

I scowled. I sensed the scene change and Patamon flew up. I saw Taichi and Yamato. They were trying to get their digimon to warp digivolve. I looked at Patamon who still couldn't digivolve. It wasn't fair!

I stared at the two with anger. They were going to destroy Patamon and I couldn't do anything about it. I flew at them in blind fury. I felt my rage grow as they laughed at me.

I hated it. The two illusions wouldn't stop taunting me as I saw Agumon and Gabumon warp digivolve. I wanted to find a way to stop them so badly! I looked down at my new crest and it glowed. "Patamon digivolve to…"

"Angemon! Hand of Fate!" I felt the intensity of the blast and collapsed in exhaustion.

I turned my head to the large digimon that watched. "Very well. Do whatever you wish. You don't have to return until tomorrow evening." He left me and Angemon alone.

"Let's go to the real world, Angemon."

"Really, TK?" He stared down at me with his worried face. "What if you see the others?"

I shook my head. "Just a quick trip to the park. And maybe some food. I have money at home." I stood up. "You don't have to come. I just thought that you'd want something."

Angemon reverted back into Patamon. "Okay!"

I smiled as we entered the real world through the small television.

* * *

~YAMATO~

I sat up in bed. I stared at the clock and noticed why I was awake. I stood up and answered the door. Sora beamed at me. "Hey, sleepyhead."

I smiled back. "Hey, yourself. Did you just beat Tai in soccer?"

She nodded as I let her and Biyomon in. Gabumon turned his head from the TV. I sat down and closed my eyes.

"Did you have nightmare, Matt?" Sora said as she sat next to me.

I tried to think about it. "I can't really remember. It could have been because I only remember seeing TK and Devimon."

"Devimon?" Gabumon asked. "Why would you have a dream about him?"

I shrugged. I didn't like that memory much. It reminded me of how fragile TK used to be. When he came back to Odaiba, I couldn't help but think about his younger self. He really had grown up a lot. He started out as my helpless little brother and became one of the strongest Digidestined we depend on. I opened my eyes and sighed. If Devimon comes back, I'll take him on, not just for us, but for the small TK I knew, too.


	7. Final Plans

Notes: Sorry I haven't uploaded in a while. I had a bunch of Chemistry work to catch up on. Okay, I don't own Digimon, but I do have a pretty good idea of how I'll change my finale for this story. I had to change it from my original idea of TK reverting back into his eight-year-old self. The story is about to end in maybe one or two chapters. It depends on how I want to set up my last few ideas.

* * *

~IORI~

I stared at the blonde as he read through my assignment. I glanced at Koushiro, who was glad that Yamato had a distraction. Ken was reading a book for Japanese literature. Sora stared at her boyfriend, concerned for his well-being. Yamato handed me back my paper.

"What seems to be the problem? The questions are pretty straightforward."

I looked at him and Sora signaled me to keep him busy. "I just have a little bit of trouble understanding the piece. English isn't my best subject, Yamato."

He smiled. He grabbed a pencil from his bag and immediately gave me hints on English grammar and vocabulary. "There are a lot of words in the language, but if you break them down to their roots they are much easier."

I smiled as I didn't have much trouble in the class. Everyone just wanted to get Yamato to stop asking whether or not Koushiro was ready every thirty seconds.

I tuned him out as he began writing down the key points of what he was trying to say. I grimaced at the memory of the weekend. Saturday wasn't really good because of the incident in the Digital World with TK. To make things worse for me, I went to the mall with Mimi and Miyako. It was fun, but I would have enjoyed it more without them being, I don't know, girls? I guess they can't help it.

Hikari was pretty much quiet. She ended up having to buy Taichi a pair of gloves. I also had to purchase a few new clothes as I was getting a bit taller every few months. No one really noticed but my mother insisted that I get new clothing to wear anyways.

Yesterday was the worst as Grandfather drilled me for five hours in kendo. I'm still sore today and I didn't do very well in PE because of it. But, Grandfather went easy on me. He kind of sensed that I was being distracted. "Distractions are good and bad, Iori. They keep your mind sharp, but they also cloud your judgment if you let them take over."

I smiled and heard Yamato finish his explanation. "Do you understand it a bit better now, Iori?"

I blinked at the notes Yamato had written for me. "Right. Thank you."

Yamato smiled at me. "No problem. I'm sorry if my notes are a bit unclear. TK is much better at the language than me." At the mention of TK, he turned his head back towards the computer genius.

He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off. "Yeah, Yamato. I'm ready." Koushiro finished typing in a few things and activated the portal.

I looked around for Armadillomon in the Digital World. I smiled as my partner came out of the dead forest that loomed in front of our small group.

"Is there anything different, Armadillomon?"

My partner shook his head. "I haven't seen TK or DemiDevimon. But, that's just the area I covered."

Ken stared out into the forest and frowned. "It's hard to believe that TK would be the one to actually stay in a place like that."

Koushiro's voice came from our digivices. "Well, you guys should start moving. I have a visual of the area, but there's a jammer stopping me from seeing over a certain part. It's in the red on my sensors."

Yamato and Sora came back from their scouting. "We're all set, Koushiro."

We entered the red zone Koushiro told us about and it seemed worst than the forest. Ruins lay on the ground and a tall black tower gazed over us. Sora gasped. "Is that a Control Spire?"

There were digimon around it. They were exhausted from carrying wood from the forest to the front of the Spire. Some could barely walk let alone lift up the burden by themselves.

Ken looked down at his partner. "Should we attack it?"

Wormmon shrugged. "We have to, don't we?"

Yamato was willing to attack it. Gabumon prepared his attack, but we heard shouting from the other side of tower. Sora and I went to check it out. Biyomon and Armadillomon went ahead to protect us.

TK was wearing his ridiculous armor and was yelling at the Gotsumon that were trying to stay awake. "Get up! I didn't authorize a break! I said that you'd be able to rest after the village is complete!" A few of the tired digimon brightened as they saw us. "What?" TK turned to look at us. "Oh, it's you. What do you want? I'm busy."

Sora knelt by the tired digimon. "TK, what are you doing? They're all tired."

"Tired? They wouldn't be so tired if they weren't fooling around!" He turned to the rest of the still working digimon. "Get back to work! Don't even think about stopping!" He turned back to us. "And if you really want to know, I'm building a village that will keep them all safe. Away from harm or whatever may come our way."

I frowned. The digimon were suffering and TK couldn't see that? "They're all exhausted. Why don't you calm down, TK?"

"TK again? I'm Takeru! The Protector of the Digital World!"

Yamato and Ken stood behind us. Ken crossed his arms. "You're doing a terrible job, TK. You're forcing them to build this evil tower."

"It's a part of the village. It's going to help spot danger and threats." His cold blue eyes flashed. "Like that digimon you have on your team." His voice was filled with hateful venom. He chuckled to regain his composure. "Tell me. Who's that digimon's partner?"

Yamato reluctantly approached his younger brother. "We were just trying to help, TK." He was picking his words carefully. Anything he might say can set him off. "We still don't have a partner for him. Would you like to be his partner?"

TK stared at all of us. "DemiDevimon? I don't know. Patamon doesn't like him much." He turned towards the tower. "What do you think though?"

An icy cold voice drifted out from the Control Spire. "It's probably a trick, Takeru."

TK relaxed and thought it over. "Yeah… Maybe you're right." He turned his back on us. "Leave now, or I will have you escorted out."

I'm normally solemn, but this wasn't the TK I had grown to admire. My DNA partner was always, in his way, polite; no matter how angry or annoyed he was. "TK! I won't be leaving without you, even if I have to force you." I looked down at Armadillomon and he prepared to digivolve.

The blonde looked back at me. "Then why don't you join me? I'm willing to make an offer. Do any of you want to help me rebuild the Digital World?"

Yamato clenched his fists. "Rebuilding the Digital World? It was healing already. You're ruining it, TK!"

"Shut up! You ruined me, Yamato! You always did! I don't need you watching my every move. This is all for the best of the digimon!" He turned to the Control Spire. "Get rid of them!"

Sora and Ken prepared for an attack. I immediately had Armadillomon Armor digivolve. "Digi-Armor Energize!"

"Armadillomon armor digivolve to…"

"Digmon, the Drill of Knowledge. Gold Rush!" He fired his drills at the growing shadow.

"Touch of Evil!" The shadow moved quickly as he slashed Digmon's drills in half. "I'll be glad to get rid of them."

TK smiled darkly. "I don't want you to have to overdo it. I'll send in backup. Of course, I don't think their crests will help much." He entered the dark tower and left Devimon to take care of us.

Sora had intended to have Biyomon attack the tower, but with TK in there, she was unwilling to go through with it. Ken stared at the devil-like digimon and looked down at Wormmon. "Try to help Digmon!"

Wormmon made sure to get within range for an attack. "Sticky Net!" The net barely did a thing to stop the incoming digimon.

Yamato looked between Devimon and the tower. He decided to take a risk. "Gabumon! I don't care what happens. I'm going in there and you're going to take down the Spire!"

Gabumon didn't have a chance to protest as the blonde ran towards the Control Spire. Sora couldn't stop him in time and stared at Gabumon in dismay. Gabumon didn't start attacking until Devimon went after his partner.

"Blue Blaster!" Gabumon's attack hit his target, but all of our attacks didn't seem to faze him.

Devimon still went after Yamato. Sora bolted after him to try to save him. Biyomon rushed to her side. "Sora!"

Sora turned to see her partner. "Biyomon! Try to digivolve!"

Yamato made it into the tower as Biyomon successfully digivolved. "Meteor Wing!"

Devimon had to divert his attention to the Ultimate. "That shouldn't be possible. Not unless you have your crests with you."

Sora stared at the evil digimon with a fire in her eyes. Ken immediately had Wormmon digivolve as I encouraged Digmon to stop Devimon. I stopped cheering when I heard some rumbling from the distance. I turned to look around and saw a stampeding herd. The Mammothmon made their way here quickly and I knew this was going to be trouble.

Devimon smirked. "The boy should be coming out right about now." His timing was pretty close because we saw Yamato tumble out of the Control Spire.

TK came out with an angry expression on his face. "I can't believe you would try to stop me, Matt. What? Your little brother can't take care of himself? Typical." He turned to face the herd. He waved his right hand. "Do whatever you want," his face became dark as he added on, "but _don't_ destroy any of the construction. Devimon, let's go."

TK and his digimon reentered the Control Spire and I watched as the Mammothmon pummeled our digimon. Our partners put up a good fight, but the herd was stronger than normal. I could sense a strong dark energy coming from the tower.

Yamato picked himself up and glared at the tower. He reached for his Crest that was normally hanging around his neck. He let out a frustrated sigh. "Right when I need my Crest of Friendship, I don't have it! Gabumon!" He knelt down beside his fallen partner.

"I'm sorry, Yamato. I tried!"

Sora picked up a fallen Biyomon. "Don't worry, Biyomon. We'll try to stop them next time."

Ken and I looked at each other. This was a hopeless fight and we knew it. Ken called out to Stingmon. "We have to retreat!"

"Digmon! Let's go!"

Yamato and Sora turned around with us and Digmon and Stingmon covered our tails from any attack. We got to a small construction site that had to be a wall-in-progress. I turned back and saw TK outside watching us leave.

He noticed something was amiss and went to stare at the digimon that had stopped working. I turned away because I couldn't stand to watch TK yelling at the innocent. I sighed and looked at Yamato.

He glared at what TK was doing. He noticed me and calmed down slightly. Koushiro's voice came from the digivices. "Okay, I'm bringing you guys back. You can tell me about what happened once you arrive back. From the sound of Ken's tone, you guys had it rough."

I sat down at an empty computer once I arrived. "Koushiro, TK was building a Control Spire."

Koushiro went wide-eyed. "That's what jammed my signal?"

Ken crossed his arms. "Apparently, they work a little bit better than the ones I set up. They stop all evolution unless you're wearing your crest. They also give a dark boost to some digimon."

Sora stood near the distraught Yamato. "What do we do now?"

Koushiro sighed. He shut down the computer. "We'll have to tell the others for starters. All we can do for now is to take down as many of those Spires as we can. There are at least ten that I can find!" His exclamation caused Sora to instantly shush him. We all turned to see why.

Yamato had fallen asleep. I smiled because the blonde was then violently shaken by the red-head. He jolted awake and looked around. "Hey!"

"We have to get home, Yamato."

I stood up and picked up my school bag. "Yeah, I'll see you all soon. Come on, Armadillomon." I took out my emergency cell phone and called my mother. She would be here soon to pick me up.

I waved goodbye and left the classroom. Armadillomon walked next to me. "Iori? Do you think TK is purposefully doing all of those things?"

I shook my head. "TK isn't like that. He doesn't like the darkness. At least that's what Yamato told me. After spending all that time with him in the Digital World, I still don't understand how TK really thinks." I thought it over. Most of the time, he was happy and energetic. Other times, he'd be serious but still keep his hopeful demeanor. And rarely, he gets into that state where his only focus is to destroy the Darkness.

I shuddered when I realized that the Darkness suited him when he got into that rare train of thought. Armadillomon came closer to me, thinking that I was shivering because of the light breeze blowing. I frowned because I also knew that TK loves the Light too much to let it die. Maybe there was still a little bit of Hope still in him.

* * *

~TAKERU~

School really is nothing. It's all too easy for me. I can stay on top of class work and still beat the Digidestined without breaking a sweat!

I handed in my completed test and went back to sit down next to my assigned seat. I turned away from my seating partner. I didn't want to be pestered right now. I had plans to make for the rebuilding of the Digital World.

I took out a few papers and began my sketches for my next village. First thing to add was the guard tower. That's always top priority. Next was the village wall that would keep intruders out. How big this time? I remembered what Azulongmon told me.

"A bigger area would mean that it would be harder for us to protect. Try to keep it small. If it's too big, the walls can be bypassed and the danger will be in the city. We can't have that, TK."

I thought it out carefully and made it big enough to hold a hundred digimon. It was still small enough to keep the danger out. I looked at my map and smiled. Twenty-five villages perfectly created.

I dropped my pencil and turned towards my right. My smile fell. I _had_ to be seated next to Hikari. I watched as she picked up my pencil and handed it to me. She smiled at me. A fake one. Or was it? It seemed genuine, but do I fall for it?

I nodded in thanks and went back to making my plans. I scowled. I had twenty-eight, but those three villages had fallen. I had been preoccupied at the moment at another village. I was trying to set up the gate that would have been the only entrance and exit to the city.

I frowned at my layout. I would have to put secret exits that would help me. I erased a few things here and there and finally perfected my design. I don't know how long I spent on the map, because next thing I knew Hikari was talking to me.

"Takeru, class ended."

I glanced up and saw that most of the students were leaving the school grounds. I quickly put away my things and left the English classroom. After school meant time to rebuild my fallen villages and improve my growing ones.

I walked past the school gates and saw something that I didn't expect to see. "Takeru! How have you been doing? I hope you have been eating okay while I was gone!"

I scowled and flinched at the words "Takeru" and "hope." I faked a smile. "I'm doing fine, Mother. You're back from your business trip?"

She nodded. "I'm sorry I took so long. There was a lot for me to get done. Let's go out to eat tonight."

I inwardly scowled. There went my plans. "Alright, but can Patamon come?"

"Sure thing, Takeru. Just make sure he isn't too much trouble."

I got into the car and she drove us home. I entered the apartment and noticed how clean it was. Yamato must've come back every once in a while to clean it. He wouldn't want Mother to worry that I was missing. I dropped off my backpack in my room.

I blinked at how dusty my room was. He never cleaned my room. Somehow I was annoyed and relieved at the same time. I would have to clean it up myself later on. There was no way for me to stay in the Digital World without my mother noticing.

I brought Patamon with me to the restaurant and things were quiet. They always were at dinner. Either I was alone by myself eating, or Mother would say things to me occasionally. Tonight was a little different because she was questioning me about Patamon.

"Takeru, why is Patamon a little different?"

I raised my eyebrow. "Different? He's the same as he's always been."

She still looked doubtful. "If you say so, son."

I could have told her that my "friends" had killed him. I decided not to because I didn't need her ruining my plans. She had already set me back today. I'll have to spend the weekend working double time to make up for this lost afternoon. Or I can spend tomorrow on quadruple time. Somehow, I liked that idea better. This weekend was supposed to be a chance for me to recruit digimon into my army for protection.

Things were even more silent after that. We finished dinner and she paid for our meal. Patamon didn't eat much. It wasn't that odd, or at least not anymore. He just didn't have a big appetite anymore. I guess it's because we're fighting against our very own comrades. I understand, but that doesn't stop me from trying to reach my goals.

I went back to my room once we got home. Patamon followed me and I locked the door. He looked slightly disappointed. "Weren't we going to the Digital World today, TK?"

"We're still going," I stated. I gripped my new Crest and felt us being pulled to the Digital World by a strange force. I still didn't understand how that really worked.

Azulongmon waited for us in his usual chamber. I bowed and looked at the great digimon. "You're late."

"I'm sorry, but my mother came back and wanted to spend time with me."

"That's okay, but that will mean that you will have to stay in the real world." I nodded. "I still require you to spend time here in the Digital World. Your new Crest won't work well when away from here for too long."

I bit the inside of my cheek. "Isn't there a way around that?"

"No! You have been chosen to guard the Digital World. You would sacrifice your very life for it, wouldn't you?"

"Of course!" I shouted. I felt warmth in my heart. It was an odd sensation. I remembered it once, but where was it from? The image of a small eight-year-old flashed in my mind.

"Then get started on your new plans. The other Digidestined have already started to attack one of the newer villages you started on yesterday."

I swiftly changed into the familiar dark armor I had grown accustomed to wear. I took off the ridiculous fisherman's hat and threw it aside. I glanced at Patamon and nodded for him to digivolve.

"Patamon digivolve to…"

"Angemon!" He carried me to a nearby village and I started on the changes immediately. The digimon were more obedient this time. They quickly got the job done and I didn't have to reprimand anyone for slacking off.

I smiled for things were going right. I had my own Crest and tag, Angemon, and the whole Digital World on my side. The only thing stopping me was the fact that the Digidestined weren't with me. I'll get them to see that this really is a good plan. Why can't they see how nice things are?

* * *

~HIKARI~

I walked alone to school. Normally, I'd walk with Iori, Miyako, and TK. But this school year, Miyako doesn't attend Elementary anymore and Iori leaves early. TK always arrived just before the bell rang. These past two weeks were different though because Yamato said their mother returned.

TK now walks to school, but he doesn't really acknowledge me when I walk with him. I stared at the boy ahead of me. He was walking slowly and he bumped into a pole.

"TK?" I called out. "Are you alright?"

He turned around to see me. "Hikari?" He turned to look at the pole. "Sorry, I'm just a bit tired."

I frowned but was relieved that he was talking to me. He held a granola bar in his hand. He had a water bottle in his backpack and he took a sip from it. He grimaced as he continued to eat.

I walked silently near him. I couldn't help but notice his extremely sluggish pace. "Are you sure you're fine?"

He nodded and looked at me. "Why am I walking and talking with you?" He frowned and opened the door that led into school. He offered to let me in first. Leave it to TK to still be polite to his enemies.

I walked with him for a little longer on our way to Homeroom. He seemed lost in thought as he sat down in his seat next to mine. "Hikari? Can I ask you something?" I nodded slightly. "Don't you want to save the Digital World? I mean, that's what I want. Why don't you join my side and help me build a grand kingdom? Doesn't that sound nice? A kingdom where all of the digimon can live and won't have to worry about attack?" His blue eyes shone with a determination only the bearer of Hope could have. I haven't seen TK like that in a long while.

I wish Daisuke and Ken were here, but there was an all day soccer tournament they were required to attend. I just stared at TK and noticed that he was expecting me to answer. "TK…" He scowled. I rolled my eyes. "Okay, Takeru…" That name sounded weird to me, but I continued. "Do you really know what you're doing?"

He smiled lightly. "Of course! I'm building guard towers and a wall surrounding the area I want the village to be built. Everything after that gets easier!"

I frowned. Koushiro sent his little camera program into the "villages" and had shown it to us. The guard tower TK was referring to was the Control Spire. The walls were meant to keep the digimon in and us out. I would point that out to TK, but I don't know what the illusion is doing to his head.

The bell rang and he left alone to think about it. He took out a sketchpad and began to draw designs in there. They were scaled drawings of his final kingdom. I felt curiously drawn to it, but then again, I was scared of what it might turn out to be.

Classes went past slowly and it was very noticeable that TK wasn't in top shape. He seemed to be forcing himself to stay awake, but he left me alone to collect my thoughts. It wasn't until PE when TK wanted an answer. "Do you want to join me or not?" His determined glare burned a hole into my mind. Iori had this period PE and he walked over to us.

He was certain that he wasn't going to speak until he knew what this was about. TK turned to him. "What do you think, Iori? A kingdom for all of the digimon! We'll be able to protect _all_ of them!"

Iori frowned. He looked up at me. "That doesn't really sound bad, but are you really doing the right thing?"

TK frowned right back at his DNA partner. "I knew you wouldn't really understand, Iori. You're too young and you haven't been through what Hikari and I went through." He turned to me. "You understand though, right, Hikari?"

I nodded slightly, afraid to answer. How was I supposed to tell him that he believed a lie? I opened my mouth to speak, but the coaches wanted to begin class. TK jogged over to where our class was and I immediately whispered to Iori, "Maybe I should accept his offer to try to figure out what he's trying to do."

He looked at me worriedly. "Just don't do anything to get on TK's bad side." He glanced at TK. "He seems tired."

The two of us turned away from each other and I lined up with my class. I turned to look at TK. He was about to collapse, but he had dismissed thoughts of trouble from teachers by saying he was just tired. I think it was more than that; something with the Digital World.

We stretched and did our daily run. It was easy today because it was Friday. Every Friday, we were supposed to run the track that was outside. One lap and then more for extra credit. The girls went first and I was able to finish quickly. The Digital World helped with keeping in shape.

The boys lined up at the start and our coach blew his whistle. TK immediately began running. He was slower than the rest. Normally he would be first with Ken. Daisuke would try to keep up and would outrun him to impress the coach.

Everyone waited for the run to end and TK made it back. Coach looked at his basketball star. "Takaishi! Are you okay? You're normally not that slow! I'll send you to the nurse if you don't feel well."

TK smiled. "No need, Coach. I'm just tired. I had to stay up all night, working on a project." I didn't believe his lie.

"Okay, then." Our coach turned to us. "You all know what you can do now. Remember, no sitting or taking breaks. You're graded on participation!" He blew his whistle and TK came to walk beside me.

"Did you decide yet?" We walked the track and he made sure to slow down to my pace.

"Um, TK…"

He scowled. "Can you stop calling me that? Takeru." He held out his hand as if he were offering me a deal.

I didn't get a chance to take it, because a few boys in our class wanted to have TK play basketball. He turned to them. "I want an answer, Hikari." He went over to the courts and began to play.

I saw Iori finish up his class's exercise of the day. He smiled and saw that TK was playing basketball.

"Are you going to take up his offer?"

I frowned. "I don't really want to. He thinks that building those Spires is the right thing."

Iori looked at the two crests I was wearing. He turned to look at TK. "He's wearing a Crest, right?"

The two of us walked the track. I crossed my arms. "I don't really think it is a crest." I stared at the Crest of Hope. The gold shine often glowed brightly for no reason at all, but right now it was dim. The Crest of Light glowed softly. I thought about joining TK and it dimmed slightly. "No, I'm going to have to tell him that I refuse."

I turned back on the courts and TK looked like he was going to faint. He had the ball and was trying to dribble across the court. He made a shot, but as he tossed the basketball into the air, he fell backwards. Iori and I immediately rushed to his side.

"TK!" Iori looked around for a teacher and I helped the blonde up.

A teacher came over to check if he was alright. "Get him to the nurse!" Iori and I somehow carried TK to the nurse's office. He was very light and that somehow got me even more worried. Was he even eating?

Iori set him down on the bed as I talked to the nurse. "He just collapsed in PE."

The school doctor called for his assistant. "Jou! Our patient is suffering from extreme fatigue, a little bit of malnutrition, and dehydration. I'll need you to take him to the hospital."

I turned to see the older Digidestined come out from the office and stare at us. "TK! What happened, Hikari?"

Iori answered for me. "He collapsed in PE."

Jou looked at the school's doctor. "Can they both come with me?"

The doctor shook his head. "They have to be excused by their family."

I wanted to go to the hospital. I need to see if TK is going to be okay. "But Iori and I have lunch next period. Can't we go?"

The doctor sighed. "Fine, but only for lunch. You'll be in trouble if you don't come back for your last class. You'll have to get your parents to sign you out of school if you're going to miss it."

Jou had called an ambulance to get here. I climbed into the vehicle with Iori and Jou. We stared intently at TK. Jou questioned us about him.

"Did he eat or drink anything today?"

"Just a granola bar and a sip of water before school started. Other than that, I don't know how he is. We don't see him much, remember, Jou?"

He nodded. "Yeah. There is the Digital World aspect of this." He called our parents to let them know where we were.

We entered the hospital and Jou helped TK get a room. I waited in the lobby and Iori sat down. "Someone should be in there with him."

I agreed, but with us in there, the doctors would get distracted. I heard a loud yell from the entrance. "Where is my brother?"

Jou stopped Yamato from taking another step. "Calm down! We're in a hospital. TK will be okay."

He was forced to sit down. Taichi sat next to him. My brother smiled at me. "Good news, Hikari. You two were signed out." He turned back to Yamato. "TK will be alright, Yamato. Just breathe."

Yamato took deep breaths and waited for Jou to come back. When he did, he was instantly pulled back down to stay in his seat. I laughed slightly. Jou sighed in relief that he wasn't jumped by the blonde. "TK's okay. He's just really tired. He hasn't been eating or drinking a lot lately. He'll be fine as long as we don't bother him too much. Who wants to check up on him?" He stepped out of the way as Yamato charged into the halls.

Taichi and I followed. Iori stood with Jou to learn more. Yamato stood next to the bed TK laid on. The younger of the two was asleep. He seemed so angelic, but he was muttering in his sleep. "I have to get to the Digital World…"

Taichi stared at TK. "What is he talking about?"

Yamato shrugged and checked to make sure his brother was really okay. "Nothing wrong. But how do I get him to believe us instead of that bat?"

I sat down in a chair and sighed. "He wants us to be with him."

Taichi clenched his fists. "He wants us to destroy the Digital World?"

Yamato sharply turned his head to his best friend. "You can't blame TK."

Taichi was shocked by his attitude. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I know it's not his fault. But we have to decide on what to do."

Yamato and Taichi left the room to discuss a few plans. "Watch TK for us, Hikari," Yamato stated as he closed the door.

I walked over to the sleeping boy and frowned. "Why can't you see the truth, TK?" He took in a deep breath. "Everyone is pretty worried. I mean, you're working with Devimon. That's not like you."

He groaned a bit and was starting to sit up. "Where am I?"

I knew I should have gotten Taichi or the others, but I was extremely relieved to see that my best friend was okay. "TK! You're up. You're in the hospital."

He looked around. "Why?" He heard Taichi and Yamato starting to yell outside.

"No! We can't do that. Have you forgotten about that digimon that follows him around?"

TK stiffened as he heard Taichi answer. "But all of us can digivolve higher! One Champion against all of us!"

I backed away from TK as he got out of bed. "Let me out!"

I tried to help him back in bed but he made a motion that told me to stay back. "TK, you're still a little bit weak. You need rest."

"I need to get out of here!" He stood up and struggled to support his own weight. "I have to get back to the Digital World!" He used the bed to help him stand. He turned back to me. "Do you have an answer yet?" I didn't answer him. "No? Alright fine! I'll do things myself then."

I got the door before him. "You're not leaving, TK." I spoke loudly enough to let Taichi and Yamato know that TK was up.

TK glared at me. "A prisoner of the Digidestined?" He shook his head. "Either let me out, or I'll force you out of my way."

"I'd like to see you try, TK." I wasn't about to let him out when he was still weak.

He stood up by himself and got into a fighting stance. He didn't do anything though. He spoke mainly to himself. "Why can't I attack? Maybe because of her crest…"

The door opened behind me and Yamato grimly smiled. "TK, are you feeling better?"

The boy scowled. "Let me go!"

"I don't know what you're thinking, but we aren't going to hurt you." Yamato offered TK his hand. "Come on, TK."

"Again you call me TK. I'm not TK anymore! I'm Takeru! And I'm going to the Digital World!" The boy ran past us and got out the door.

Taichi was waiting outside and he tried to stop him. "Hey! TK!"

TK ran into my brother. "Let me past, Taichi!"

Yamato and I got behind TK so he couldn't turn back. TK turned to see us.

TK looked at us. "Fine, I'll have to do this the hard way." He took out his digivice. "Dark Digital Gate, open!" He flashed us an evil smile and disappeared into the Digital World through a dark portal that had appeared.

I would have gone after him, but Yamato stopped me. "We don't know what's there waiting for us, Hikari."

Taichi was fuming. He saw the portal close and looked at the wall clock. "Come on, Hikari. Everyone should be here by now."

The three of us went back to the lobby and all of the Digidestined asked us about TK. "TK went to the Digital World," I replied glumly.

Daisuke sighed and noticed something. "Hikari, your Crest. Or is it TK's. I don't know, but it's not shining anymore."

I immediately looked to see which one he was referring to. TK's Crest of Hope had faded out. I took it off and stared at it. Yamato held it up gently to see for himself. He choked back a yell.

Koushiro frowned. "Either we go immediately, or we wait until tomorrow."

Jou spoke up. "If we go now, we might make TK feel even more threatened. At least we can map out a plan that we can execute tomorrow."

Everyone seemed to agree. Yamato handed me back TK's Crest. "Let's go to my mom's apartment. I'll have to tell her where TK is so she won't freak out. We'll need all of the digimon too. That means to include Patamon." He looked at me.

I nodded to show him I understood. We left the hospital and went to our respective homes. Taichi threw his bags in his room and picked up his Crest of Courage. "I should really keep this with me from now on."

"I always wear mine, Taichi. You never know when you'll really need it."

Gatomon and Patamon came out of my room. "Are we going somewhere, Kari?"

I looked at them both. "We're going to TK's apartment." Patamon turned back to my room. "Patamon, you're coming with us."

"But what about TK?"

"He won't be there," Taichi said as he was trying to wake up Agumon.

Gatomon sensed that something was wrong. "Why do all of us need to go there?"

I looked at them sadly. "We're planning out a final attack against TK."

Patamon jumped up. "But we can't fight TK."

"He'll fight us though!" Taichi cried. "We have to plan it so we can get him out of those illusions."

Agumon sat up. "Why do we have to go to TK's apartment to plan against him?"

"Yamato suggested it. Plus, it's the only place big enough to hold us all," Taichi replied. That was true. TK had a large living room.

The five of us left our home and made our way to the apartment building Miyako and Iori lived. Taichi pulled on his gloves to make sure they were secure. He was extremely nervous. He doesn't realize that he gets fidgety whenever he thinks too hard.

We entered the apartment and Yamato smiled at us. "You guys are pretty early."

I looked around and sat on the couch next to Sora. She smiled at me. "Hey, Patamon. How are you doing?" She petted the digimon I held in my arms.

"I don't want to fight TK."

"We won't hurt him," Sora reassured him. "If you digivolve in front of him, he'll be able to see the truth."

I smiled as I had told everyone that he became Angemon by accident. We were in the Digital World the day TK's mom came back. Koushiro had us out pretty late, but we didn't mind. Somehow, Patamon digivolved and we were able to take out a Control Spire.

I looked down at Patamon. "Remember to not give up Hope, Patamon."

Patamon stared at the ceiling. "Somehow, it's hard for me to believe that. It's more like TK that's given up Hope."

I refused to believe that. The Digidestined arrived and we waited as Koushiro explained the most basic things to us. We immediately began to throw out ideas at the genius and Ken wrote them down. Jou took a set of notes of his own to make sure that actions we definitely wanted were in order.

At the end of the meeting, Daisuke excitedly stood up. "This is going to work!"

Patamon still had his doubts. "But what about TK?"

Mimi helped us all get over that. "TK will be fine. You digivolving will help him snap out of it. After all, you did risk your life to save TK. He won't ever forget that!"

Patamon became determined once again. "Okay! We'll save TK!"


	8. Penultimate End

Notes: This is my second to last chapter. Next chapter ends it all. Near the end here I put a little bit of Takari because I couldn't help it. I would change it, but then things would have turned awkward between Yamato and Hikari. I'm thinking about writing another story that takes place a little after this. Not exactly a sequel though. I don't know; the idea is just there in my head. It might not exactly happen. Okay, I don't own Digimon and... just read the story already.

* * *

~TAKERU~

I scowled. If they want to call me Takeru, I'll let them. Besides, they made it a point. I really wasn't TK anymore. They think that calling me TK would bring me to believe their lies? No, no more lies. This time, I don't hold back.

I stared at the progress. It was an hour past midnight, but I wasn't going to rest. Not until my Kingdom was finished. I made sure that the tower was up and running. I would have to check the two others to make sure they were working correctly.

"Angemon! Are the towers ready?" My voice was bold. Different from all those times I would quietly speak. It was demanding and it showed me that I had the strength to do whatever I wished.

My guardian angel nodded to me. "It's ready, Takeru."

The two of us checked the final tower. I smiled. "Okay, it's good."

I turned to the Kingdom and saw the digimon. They were happy in their new homes. I stared at the castle I had stayed in. I stepped into the main hall with a smile plastered on my face. Digimon were in here too. Something was still missing though.

I looked back outside and realized what. A guard wall! But no, that would give the Digidestined the chance to lay siege on my paradise. If a wall wasn't missing, what was?

"Is something the matter, Takeru?" I shook my head. "Then what can be wrong with the Protector of the Digital World?"

I shrugged. "I thought I would be happier knowing I saved the digimon. But, this doesn't feel right. I mean, normally, I save the digimon with my friends. I did this all by myself with the Digidestined as the opposition."

"They don't understand this, Takeru. They never will. They don't understand true pain and suffering. Both leaders are too stubborn and can never think as high as you. Mimi and Miyako have lived sheltered lives. Jou, what can he do but hold back true potential? Koushiro thinks he knows so much but there is a difference between knowing and applying. Iori may be mature for his age, but does his maturity match yours? Ken can't count to know pain and suffering because those feelings didn't come from within him; only from those Dark Spores. Your brother and best friend should have understood you right?" I nodded. "But they don't. Hikari is the Light, but she doesn't think the Darkness should be truly destroyed. Your brother hinders you and stops you from really fulfilling what you want. You know what you want, don't you, Takeru?"

I nodded. "To destroy the Darkness and let the Light take over. That way, no one has to ever suffer."

Angemon smiled down at me. "No one really understands that except us, huh, Takeru?"

I sighed. "I guess. Come on, there are still many things to do before tomorrow morning. We can't stop now!" The two of us checked the Kingdom. I made improvements on a few buildings and made sure that the guarding structures were ready for use.

It was almost dawn and I rubbed my eyes. I stretched towards the sky and walked back towards the castle. Angemon was still with our army. He wanted to be prepared for anything today.

I entered my room and tried to get whatever sleep I could. The dreams didn't really help. I actually tried not to dream but failed. I just floated in the Darkness. It had taken me in, but when had it become so bright?

I stared at a reflection of myself. Wow… I look so different. Is that really me? Short, teary-eyed. No… That couldn't be me. I looked closer. No, that wasn't me. He was too young. Or maybe, he was me in the past.

I backed away from him and stumbled into the open Light. I stared at the yellow that surrounded my body. I felt warm and safe. The small boy smiled at me. "You're back!"

I looked at him confused. "Back from where?"

He pointed behind me into the Darkness. "From that scary place that destroyed my friend." His voice was quiet. Barely a whisper, but I heard.

I knelt down. "Really? Maybe your friend will come back." I looked at the boy with a sense of pity. Why did he remind me of me? I didn't know what to do when he began to cry. "Hey! Don't cry. I'm sure you'll see your friend again."

"How do you know?" He wiped up his tears with his sleeve.

I didn't respond to that question. I didn't know. I had lost Angemon once, thinking I would never see my partner again. Then I lost him another time to one of my best friends. But if this kid was me, wouldn't it mean that he would see Angemon again? I looked back down at the boy and he stared up at me. "You will see your friend again. You can't give up hope. Angels need hope, you know?"

He shook his head. "My friend isn't an angel. And he gave up Hope. He's never coming back."

I was even more confused, but I had already begun to awaken from my short sleep. I got up and stared at the rising sun. I couldn't stop thinking about that kid. I stood up and walked to the bathroom.

I came out of the shower and quickly put on my black armor. I found my hat lying on the floor and picked it up. I walked over to a hook on the wall, but never put the hat back up. I placed it on my head absentmindedly and exited my room.

Patamon was sleeping and I gently picked him up. I walked over to the main hall of the castle. More digimon were here now. Azulongmon had said that the Digidestined would probably come straight here for a final battle. He didn't want any collateral.

Patamon gently stirred and flew up. "Is it morning, Takeru?"

I nodded. "I don't want you using too much energy too early. You'll digivolve later okay?"

Patamon smirked. "Come on, Takeru! I have a lot of power now. With your new Crest, we can't lose!"

I just remembered it and looked at the grey thing around my neck. "Right. But I don't want to take any chances."

"We're the strongest out of them, Takeru!" Patamon cried. "I'll take on the Digidestined and destroy them if I have to!"

I was stunned by his excitement. Did he really want to destroy them? I was hoping that I could talk to them. Maybe get them to join me. But Patamon…

I didn't have time to think about it any further. One of my guard bases was being attacked. I looked at my digivice to see which one was in trouble. One blinked red. I frowned and started north, but pretty soon, all eleven I had built started to blink. This couldn't be right.

I had designed each tower to be able to take down each digimon belonging to the Digidestined. Fighting with them gave me the knowledge of every digimon's weakness. If they went one-on-one against my tower, they would lose.

I heard the towers shatter and I immediately deployed my main army. My special force would have to stay with me. I looked at the map and maneuvered each group to its corresponding target.

Patamon and I entered the main part of the Kingdom. The three main guard towers were being taken down! Patamon flew towards the largest one in the center. "Boom Bubble!"

I followed behind him and stared at the group attacking my tower. "Stop it! You're destroying my Kingdom!"

DemiDevimon flew behind Hikari. Gatomon stepped forward to protect them both. "Sorry, Takeru, but it's for your own good."

The small bat flew forward. "Takeru! Come on! You're being tricked."

I stared at the small digimon. He had tricked me once into fighting with Tokomon. I still never forgave him for that. "Patamon, attack!"

"Boom Bubble!" The attack missed and I scowled. I looked back down at my digivice and noticed that all of my guard stations have been destroyed. The other two guard towers have also collapsed. My eyes grew wide when I knew that I had to get my special army here _now_.

"Patamon! Digivolve!"

My partner nodded his head. "Patamon digivolve to…"

"Angemon!"

I turned around to see the specially chosen digimon rush forward to help. It was an odd crew to use to protect the Digital World, but they were powerful. Angemon also convinced me that they really were good. It was a small crew made up of only LadyDevimon, Puppetmon, and Myotismon. Angemon was the leader of them and the others had no problem with that.

The rest of the Digidestined arrived at about the same time. Taichi stared at us. "Takeru! What are you doing? You hate those digimon!"

I glared at him. "They're going to help me protect the Digital World! I offered it to you all, but none of you took up the chance! I'm going to save it with this group instead!"

Angemon prepared to fight against them. "Attack!"

The Digidestined dodged the attacks and immediately had their partners digivolve. I stared at all of the Champions. DemiDevimon was still Rookie though. I decided to go after him myself.

I dashed forward and saw Hikari in my way. She was protecting the evil bat. She blocked all of my punches and Taichi got behind me to hold me back.

"Let me go! That bat is nothing but evil!"

Taichi did let me go, but he whirled me around and punched me. "Will you just listen to yourself? What do you know about evil, Takeru?"

I fell to the ground and picked myself up. I looked at Hikari whisper to DemiDevimon. The small Rookie shook his head. "But you have to!" Hikari cried out.

The Rookie looked down at me and began to digivolve. I shielded my eyes from the bright light and opened them again. Who I saw shocked me beyond belief. It was a digimon I hated with all my life. "Devimon!" I immediately turned to look for Angemon. "Angemon! Devimon!" My head instantly hurt.

"Takeru!" Yamato cried out as I fell onto the ground.

I clutched my head and pulled down my hat over my eyes. I didn't want to hear anything. The attacks were deafening and the explosions sent shockwaves through me. I heard myself whimper despite trying to stay strong.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I saw that little boy from my dreams crying. I stopped whimpering and punched whoever had touched me. Yamato fell backwards.

I picked myself up and stared at Angemon and Devimon. Devimon did nothing as Angemon tried again and again to attack him. I felt anger rise within me. Why could he never be destroyed? He always had to come back and bring those nightmares back.

Devimon saw me and tried to fly towards me. He still hated me for being the Digidestined that destroyed him. Angemon stopped him from getting to me.

I ran away and was stopped by Daisuke and Ken. Daisuke was too busy watching Palidramon stop Puppetmon from attacking Birdramon. I winced as the large bird digimon attacked my guard tower. Ken stared at me with what looked like pity in his eyes. "Takeru, we don't want to hurt you. Just listen for a moment."

I stopped and thought it over for a while. I decided to turn away from them and face my fear. I don't want to listen to what they have to say to me. I'd rather have myself destroyed by Devimon, knowing I tried to save the Digital World than to fall into their lies.

Devimon managed to stop Angemon's attacks. The digimon turned to me. He whispered, "Takeru. You're okay, aren't you?"

I glared at him with intense hate. I could feel my eyes burn with the emotion. I couldn't even see clearly, but I approached him with a murderous intent.

Devimon offered out his hand. "I thought you were going to keep Hope, Takeru. I told you to not be tricked. I meant that the people who attacked us weren't our friends. These people here fighting for your sake _are_."

I tried to figure out what he was trying to say, but Angemon had already caught up with Devimon. "Hand of Fate!"

The enemy digimon pulled me away as he dodged the attack. His action confused me because Angemon missing him would mean I would have gotten hit. I immediately backed out of the way to try and think. He just saved me. Why would the digimon I shared a mutual hate with save me?

I stared at the Digidestined and saw that they were holding back. Why? Why didn't things make sense to me anymore? How would Devimon know what Angemon's final words were unless he had sent me those thoughts?

Again, my head began to pound with a great intensity. I fell to my knees and clutched my hat. I stared at the thing that gave me a sort of sense of identity. I looked up slightly to see the Digidestined looking at me.

Taichi and Yamato had those eyes only an older brother can have when it came to those they cared about. Mimi was expecting me to do the right thing. Koushiro and Jou wanted me to be able to be as calm and collected as I was before. Sora stared at me like the mother figure I always took her to be. Hikari smiled her sad smile. The smile that she had given when she came back from the Dark Ocean. Daisuke had on his silly smirk that told me that we were rivals but great friends. Miyako looked like she was waiting for me before school started so she would have someone to talk to. A person that didn't judge until after she had totally explained to me her opinions. Iori looked up to me, trying to find the person he knew to defend what was right. Ken had eyes that reminded me that I was right about the Darkness and evil; it got people hurt if you went into it blindly. So what was I doing with it?

The noises came back and I saw Angemon crash down next to me. I jumped up and noticed that I was able to see clearly. My mind wasn't foggy and my headache had disappeared.

"Angemon, are you okay?"

Devimon laughed darkly. "So you managed to get the boy out of his illusion? Clever, Digidestined. Too bad he's going to be destroyed so soon!"

I gasped. "Illusion?" I backed away slowly. "I didn't know… I was trying to protect the Digital World!" I felt the familiar anger in me. It took over, but I could only glare. I mean, I wasn't dumb enough to fight against Devimon alone.

Devimon laughed again. Angemon could barely get up and I knew that it was my fault. I felt tears well up in my eyes. The other digimon tried to keep Puppetmon and Myotismon from getting me. LadyDevimon and Angewomon were having a very personal fight and no one was able to help since both digimon were destroying everything in their wake.

I clenched my teeth and wanted everything to disappear. All of my hate towards the Darkness had built up so much and I wanted to let it out. I continued to glare at the tormentor of my nightmares.

"Continue to hate me. It gets me stronger!" He laughed in a sick and demented way. "You're giving me the power to get to my Mega form!" I watched in dismay as he digivolved. I didn't things could get any worse than that devil, but I was wrong. I had forgotten about the one digimon that tormented me even more: Piedmon.

The clown towered over me and I felt small. His twisted smile grew even bigger when I began to get a dark feeling in my heart. The darkness took over and I had stood up to try to stand up against him. But after a few steps, my bravery faltered. I stared up in fear and another feeling. "Despair?"

Piedmon laughed. "Your Despair gives us Hope. You're just a weak little boy!"

I felt my world fall apart. So this was what it was like to be hopeless. I never noticed it before. I always tried to believe in the best, but here was the worst. I led myself into believing lies and now I was paying for it.

"TK! Don't listen to him!" Hikari's voice did nothing to help me though.

I turned to run away from the fight. I knew it wasn't the smartest choice, but if I could turn my back on all of this, I wouldn't have to be responsible, right? Not really good thinking, I know, but I can't face my friends. They're struggling for my sake and I didn't want to see them fail.

I fell through the large doors and collapsed on the ground, breathing hard. I got to my hands and knees and stared at the digimon that had been placed here for safety. I looked at them through my new eyes and realized that they weren't safe.

Many of them were weak and were huddled together warmth. They looked at me with fear. Fear of being yelled at again. Fear of being punished for not working. Fear of the bearer of Hope becoming Despair.

I looked down at the black armor I wore. My hat slipped off and I caught it before it reached the ground. Which apparel was I really? The goofy white fisherman hat or the black armor with Hope etched upside down in grey on the front?

"TK!" I turned around to see the digimon that could fly try to come towards me. The Control Spire behind them was collapsing. The small force of evil digimon knew that protecting it was pointless. They were starting to come after me.

I felt fear rise up in my throat as Myotismon laughed. "It's just us and you! The others won't make it back fast enough."

I put on a bold mask. "What are you going to do, huh? You can't destroy me without destroying Piedmon and the castle!" I know they still need me.

Puppetmon laughed. "Ready for round two, Takeru?"

My eyes grew wide when I knew he was going to start his demented game of war. I couldn't let the innocent digimon in there get hurt. I ran towards the small army and slid around them. Puppetmon took out his guns and laughed. "Finally! I get to have a real friend to play with!" He motioned the others to play along too.

I gulped and continued to run. Puppetmon fired his gun and I dove out of the way. I may be wearing armor, but I know Puppetmon's gun is really devastating. I felt the bullets whiz pass me and destroy a small hut that was built for the city.

I tripped and that gave LadyDevimon time to pick me up by the throat. "You still have that adorable innocent face! Maybe I should change that!"

Piedmon laughed delightfully. "Don't take out his eyes! I want him to be able to see his friends get tortured."

I suddenly didn't mind being blind if I was going to have to go through that. I struggled but it was no good. I grabbed the hand that was around my neck, but my hand brushed past a thin object. I pulled it off my neck to see what it was.

I stared at the grey crest. Taking it off made me feel better. I didn't have to die thinking I could protect everything. I stared at LadyDevimon and prepared for the worst.

Puppetmon was dancing behind her. "I can't wait for our games, Takeru! And this time! I'll be sure to keep another one of our friends nearby in case you try to escape again!"

LadyDevimon finally lifted up her other hand. "Vile—"

"Celestial Arrow!" I was immediately dropped and backed away from the evil digimon.

Myotismon frowned. "Again with you? This should take care you, Angewomon! Crimson—"

"Mega Claw!" WarGreymon quickly charged at the vampire and I was able to run towards my friends.

Hikari tossed me something and I quickly caught it, letting the grey tag drop. I stared at the familiar gold and yellow. I smiled and looked at the Patamon she was carrying.

"TK?" Patamon stared at me.

I took him and smiled. "It's me, buddy!"

He smiled and flew up to look at the fighting digimon. Mimi was in front of us and she turned back. "It's your turn, TK."

I nodded and placed the Crest of Hope where it belonged. "Let's go, Patamon!"

"Patamon digivolve to…"

Angemon! Angemon digivolve to…"

"MagnaAngemon! Holy Sword!"

I stared at the great angel and felt hope rise within me. It felt great to be filled with the familiar warmth. Nothing would ever take it back from me!

"Positron Laser!" Imperialdramon blasted the bewildered Puppetmon. He fell to the ground and lay motionless.

Daisuke smiled. "All right!" He and Ken went back to pick up their de-digivolved partners. "You were great, DemiVeemon!"

Ken smiled at Minomon. He turned to the others. "Come on! We can do this!"

Angewomon took down LadyDevimon with the help of Lillymon and Garudamon. Hikari, Mimi, and Sora cheered. "You were awesome, Salamon!"

"Tanemon, you did great!"

"You deserve a long rest, Yokomon!"

Myotismon took the combined powers of Digmon, MegaKabuterimon, Shurimon, and Zudomon. MegaKabuterimon landed next the three others and all of them reverted back into In-Training form.

"Great work, Motimon."

"When we get back home, I'll get us some prune juice. Does that sound nice, Upamon?"

"You were so awesome, Poromon! I'd like to see my sisters try to take you down!"

"Are you alright, Bukamon? I have some bandages if you need anything."

I looked at the three evil digimon and focused my energy on Piedmon. But still, something wasn't right. I was missing something. I know it's important, but what can it be?

"Do you really think I'll be defeated by two Megas and an Ultimate?"

MetalGarurumon charged at him. "Metal Wolf Claw!"

Yamato growled when the attack missed. "Taichi! Let's combine their power!" Taichi nodded and took out his digivice.

"Go ahead, WarGreymon!"

The two Megas united to form Omnimon and the rest of us cheered him on as he joined MagnaAngemon. Piedmon still didn't seem afraid. Or he didn't show it. He was more concerned about destroying the digimon that banished him through the Gate of Destiny.

"If I'm going down, I'll at least take you with me, MagnaAngemon!" He dodged a shot from Omnimon and charged at my digimon. "Trump Sword!"

I yelled out for my partner, but he was prepared. "Holy Sword!" He swung his Excalibur to parry all for swords. He thrust the blade towards the clown and managed to pierce his chest.

The evil digimon fell, but he still had strength left to fight. Omnimon took advantage of the delay and used it for a final attack. "Omni Blast!" The beam caused the clown to plummet near his allies. The Mega de-digivolved back into Koromon and Tsunomon.

"You did it, Koromon!" Taichi picked up his partner.

Yamato knelt down to Tsunomon. "Way to go."

Throughout the fight, I had slipped away from my friends and walked towards the castle with no idea why. I stared at the fallen four digimon near me. They weren't deleted and I had the feeling we still weren't done. I was forgetting something very important. MagnaAngemon sensed my absentmindedness and landed beside me. "Is something wrong, Takeru?"

I nodded. I walked forward towards the castle. I stopped when I felt the ground tremble beneath me. I fell backwards and saw the manor vanish. It was replaced by nothing and it reached out for me.

I turned and scrambled towards my friends, but they couldn't help. "TK!" Yamato was running to help me.

I turned around to see what was happening. It wasn't pretty. The darkness became something short of a swirling black hole. It didn't suck anything in, which was good. It was actually doing the complete opposite. It was trying to bring something out. I began to hyperventilate and cursing myself for thinking this thing was Azulongmon.

"Reverse Digivolution!" Claws came out of the hole and grabbed all of our digimon. They became eggs while MagnaAngemon was forced to return to his Patamon state.

I whipped around to yell at the rest of the Digidestined. "Guys! Run!"

Taichi didn't think so. "We're not leaving you behind!" He led the others to still come towards me even though they couldn't do a thing.

Apocalymon growled as he finally came out of the swirling vortex. "It's just you and me then, Takeru."

I stared at him. What did I know about Apocalymon besides the obvious? It was obvious he was evil. He hates Light. He enjoys inflicting pain. He wants things to be justified so that everyone can share his pain. What was I forgetting?

He just laughed at me. "Did you know that I can hear your thoughts clearly? You've forgotten about me, didn't you, Takeru?" His claws had let go of all of the digi-eggs. Patamon was struggling in his grasp, but it was no good.

"What do you want?" One of his free claws came up to touch my hat. I immediately flinched away.

"It's obvious though if you remember."

"Don't touch my brother!" Yamato tried punching the Mega despite him being no match.

Apocalymon lifted a tentacle and used it to hit him. "Yamato!" I tried to run towards him but was pulled back.

"I'm not done with you yet! Try to remember. What is it about me that automatically hates you more than Light?"

I stared at my fallen brother and he slowly got up. "Let him go!"

Daisuke and Ken tried to make an attempt to get past the claws that prevented them from coming any closer. Taichi was testing how far they could reach. The rest didn't do anything, but watch all of the digi-eggs.

I had no choice but to think. I saw Patamon out of the corner of my eye. He was still trying to break free. The claw tightened around his small body and it forced me to try harder. Then it hit me. "You're made of despair!"

I faced the large Mega. He smiled darkly. "Now you know what I want!"

It didn't make me feel any better. My friends would be safe, but it would have to be at the cost of my life. Koushiro watched and listened the whole time. He pieced together everything before me.

"TK! Don't do it!"

Yamato turned to the genius. "What do you mean? What does Apocalymon want?"

Koushiro shook his head. "TK is _Hope_. What do you think someone made from despair wants?"

Everyone realized my choices. I had to choose between killing myself and abandoning Hope. I know they won't let me sacrifice myself, but they can't afford to lose me again.

Apocalymon laughed. "It won't be that bad! A world without Hope is better than a world of nothing." I looked back at my friends and they tried to get to me.

"A world without Hope _is_ nothing!" Sora yelled. "TK, come on! We'll find another way out of this."

Taichi agreed. "We'll fight back!" He picked up Agumon's egg and had that odd determined glint in his eyes. He'd still try even though they're in no position to fight.

"You can't do this, TK!" Jou clenched his fists and glared at the digimon behind me.

"You can't give up hope, TK!" Daisuke stumbled backwards and looked at me.

Ken fell back too. "It's not over!"

Iori had his arms crossed. "Killing yourself won't stop the Darkness, TK!"

"You can't give up now!" Miyako flared up.

I looked at Mimi, Koushiro, Yamato, and Hikari. They didn't look at me. I took a step forward towards them but Apocalymon still pulled me back. "What about you four?"

Mimi bit her lip. "I don't think we should give up, but if it's the only way…" She didn't have to continue for we all knew that.

Koushiro shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry we can't do anything else."

Hikari held back her tears. "I don't want you giving up your life for us, TK, but you have to. It's okay if you can't keep you promise you made Sora though." I bit the inside of my cheek. She still remembered that. I did too and it made me realize why I could never purposefully hurt her or anyone else.

I looked up at Yamato. "Matt? What do you think?"

He turned his head to look at me straight in the eye. "It's your decision, TK. I can't be there to decide for you anymore. I'll give you my opinion, but this is a choice that only you can make. I'll trust you in the end." His face held in a lot of pain and it forced me to turn away.

I wanted him to help me decide. I know he is trying to help, but I can't do this without knowing just what he wants. I'll always be his little brother. I'll always look up to him. I guess I'll have to thank him for this one day, _if_ I make it out alive.

The others looked at the four of them. They looked away from me. Apocalymon edged closer to me. "I'll give you ten seconds to decide. Either you let me kill you or hand over that thing around your neck." He dropped Patamon and I caught him.

I looked down at my partner and he weakly frowned at me. "Either way, TK. You're going to die."

I knew that. Without Hope, I was nothing. Do I die with or without it though? I gripped the Crest and turned towards Apocalymon. I would try to fight. I might as well go out fighting. Patamon had the same thoughts too.

"There's no way I'm going to die hopeless!" I shouted as bravely as I could.

Yamato turned his head slightly to look away. He still watched though. I sensed his eyes intently on me.

Apocalymon sighed. "It would have been easier if you gave up that Crest, but if you want to die I'll gladly oblige."

Patamon flew up in front of me to protect me. "You'll have to get through me first! Boom Bubble!"

I tightened my grip around the Crest of Hope. "The two of us won't give up! Even if we die, I want my friends to carry on my Hope!" I quickly dodged a swirling claw. "I don't have to be the only with hope, but I won't give it up! This is a feeling that I can share with everyone!" The heat in my heart returned and it was stronger than before. I stared down and was blinded by gold light. I could barely see Patamon glowing along with it.

"Patamon warp digivolve to…"

"Seraphimon!"

"Go for it!" I yelled with all of my heart.

My friends behind me were trying to see what was happening. The light still surrounded us and I smiled. Seraphimon moved quickly to dodge the copied attacks of Apocalymon. "Hallowed Knuckle!" Lightning came crashing down and it caused an even greater flash.

Apocalymon roared. "I gave you a chance, Takeru! Touch of Evil!"

My eyes widened when I saw his claw reach for me. I couldn't see very well so I couldn't move. I shielded my eyes and waited for the attack to cut through me. "Hallowed Ascension!"

The claw fell and lay on the ground, dead. Apocalymon didn't stop though. He still had more claws to use.

The light faded away and I was able to see Seraphimon clearly. His tall form stood proudly and he was trying to get closer to Apocalymon. "Takeru! Don't give up yet!"

I smirked. "It never crossed my mind!" I chased after him to make sure he would be alright.

Taichi led the rest back into safety and shouted, "We'll make it through this! Just keep going, TK!"

I ducked under a tentacle and straightened myself. There were only a few more that moved and Seraphimon quickly took care of them. "Strike of the Seven Stars!"

Apocalymon's body remained and he laughed. The image of an explosion flashed in my head to remind me of his final move last time. "That's right, Takeru! You still remember that. I can detonate myself at any time! I have a chance of being reformatted, but what about you and your friends?"

I shouted back at him, knowing he didn't really have the energy to detonate himself. He's too weak to cast a large explosion, but he still had the power to instantly delete us. "You can't blow yourself up! Besides, if you do anything to my friends, I'll have Seraphimon protect them all!" There was no way I was going to survive this now.

Seraphimon prepared one final attack to take care of the deadly digimon. "Strike of the Seven Stars!" The seven orbs of energy flew at Apocalymon. "Takeru!" He yelled as his target began to move.

The pitiful digimon lunged towards me and grabbed me. I didn't flinch though. "Seraphimon! Take care of the others!"

Apocalymon wore that twisted, crooked smile again. "Darkness Zone!"

I could only laugh silently in my mind as I felt the energy of my Mega collide with his dark energy. I felt happy and sad at the same time. Something sort of clicked in my heart and mind.

I saw the little boy again. He had been crying. I frowned at him. He didn't have a need to cry anymore. Things were going to be okay.

* * *

~YAMATO~

I lifted up Gabumon's egg and sighed. I heard a loud explosion and leapt to my feet. "TK!"

Taichi looked at TK's direction worriedly. He stared at our group and sighed. "I guess I'll have to come with you. Who else?"

Hikari, Jou, and Koushiro volunteered and we went back to the wasteland. Things were even worse now. The dead trees seemed even more lifeless, if that was even possible. The only thing left of the dark castle was rubble. The only signs of life were the quiet whisperings of the surviving digimon that escaped. They whispered only about TK's heroic deed.

I saw Seraphimon weakly de-digivolve to Poyomon. He must have used a lot of power. I picked him up from the ground and he shifted his head towards a direction. I followed it and found TK's hat.

Taichi picked it up. He offered it to the baby, but Poyomon shook his head. He pointed out further and our small group solemnly moved on. Hikari found TK's Crest and Poyomon waited patiently for us.

"That should be it, shouldn't it?" I looked at the baby digimon expectantly. He shook his head. "What else is there?"

He pointed out in another direction and I saw a figure lying on the ground. Everything in my mind said that there was no way my baby brother could have survived that explosion. But then again, this was the Digital World, where anything was possible.

I ran towards TK's limp figure. "TK?"

Koushiro opened his laptop and Jou inspected my brother. "He's doing fine, but I don't think he's going to do well here. We need to get to a hospital immediately." The doctor's assistant checked for pulse and breathing.

Koushiro shook his head. "We can't bring him to the real world. He's been hit with holy energy _and_ dark energy. Bringing him back home can lead to destroying his body and his spirit." He skimmed a file he found. "We have to get Gennai."

Hikari frowned. "But we don't know where he can be!"

Taichi heard footsteps. He looked up to see the middle-aged anomaly. "Gennai! What are you doing here now? We needed you!"

Gennai disregarded Taichi's comments. He looked at TK and frowned. "He did it by himself." He sighed. "But look where that has got him." He carefully lifted TK up. "Let's go to my home."

I don't know how, but we ended up teleporting to some house. The others had already gotten here. They were organizing the eggs and trying to keep them warm.

Sora hugged me when she saw me. "Are you okay, Yamato?"

I nodded. "This is Gennai's home?" I looked at the large living room.

"Yeah. We get to stay here for the weekend. We e-mailed everyone's parents and they said it was okay." She looked at me sheepishly. "You'll have to tell your parents about TK, though."

I winced. "Okay."

Gennai came out of the room we put TK in. He sighed. "Takeru is stuck in a coma. It'll take about two weeks for him to fully recover."

Jou was polishing his glasses. "A coma? He needs a doctor immediately!"

Miyako turned away from Hawkmon's egg. "We can't stay here for two weeks!"

Taichi clenched his fists. "And we can't leave him alone either!"

Gennai calmed all of us down. "Relax, all of you. Especially you two." He pointed at Hikari and me. "For the weekend, you all get to stay here. Once school starts, you can leave one person behind to watch him for a day. Just make sure you guys decide beforehand who is going to be staying." He went back in to check on TK.

All of us sat silently for an eternity. I finally spoke up. "Who wants to go first?"

Mimi looked at me like I was crazy. "Wouldn't you want to be first?" I shook my head. I couldn't see my brother like that.

Hikari shrank away from the others too. "I don't think I want to stay to watch either."

Daisuke frowned. "I'll go first."

"I'll be second," Iori said quietly.

Everyone else picked their number. It was Daisuke, Iori, Miyako, Ken, Mimi, Jou, Koushiro, Taichi, and Sora. Hikari and I were in argument on who was to be last.

"I can't see him when he's like that, Hikari! You don't know what it's like to know you couldn't protect someone who mattered a lot to you!" I tried not to shout, but the volume of my voice wasn't made for indoors.

Hikari glared at me. "But he's also my best friend! I'll let you go last if you give me a better explanation."

I scowled. "I don't want to tell you my reason." Her eyes penetrated me. The look she was giving me was a lot like the looks Taichi used to give me. I could only sigh and reply quietly, "He wouldn't have to end up like that if I just told him not to do it."

Hikari stopped glaring and she looked up at Taichi. My best friend was tearing up. "TK would have gone anyway, Hikari." He clenched his eyes. "What would have happened if you were in TK's spot, Hikari?"

I was breathing heavily and had to sit down. "Whatever. It doesn't matter if I go last anymore." That settled it. Hikari bit her lip and went into the guest room she had chosen.

I sat back on the couch and stared at the wall. Everyone else had gone to check on TK. Most of them noticed it was getting dark and went to their rooms. None of them bothered to tell me to get to bed. They knew better than to mess with me when I was distraught.

When the last person visiting left, I waited for a few seconds. I got off the couch and entered TK's room, closing the door behind me. He was sleeping peacefully on the fluffy bed. He was wearing his crooked smile and it made me grin.

I heard the door open and Hikari came in with Gennai. She saw me and smiled softly. I nodded and stared back at my brother.

Gennai chuckled softly. "He's lucky to have such good friends." He finished checking over TK and left the room.

Hikari stood next to me. "He's even luckier to have a brother like Yamato."

I smiled. "What was the real reason you wanted to be last?"

She stared at TK's relaxed face. "He's Hope. He always has to risk his life to protect Light. He even goes out of his way to do things for everyone else and ask for nothing in return."

I nodded because I understood TK's character. My small smirk grew into a smile. What I just found out will be very useful one day. It wasn't what she was saying though. It was what was hidden under her carefully thought out words. "He cares about all of us. Some more than the others." I spoke very lightly and wanted to see her reaction.

I saw a small blush creep up on her face. I knew it. I chuckled a little and Hikari hit me lightly. "Hey! The two of us are best friends."

My laughter was quiet because I didn't want to bother TK. My stomach was starting to hurt but I couldn't stop. "So you say now!" I began to cough and had to place a hand on the nightstand to keep me up. I finally stopped and breathed calmly. "Taichi was right. We consider you two to be both of our little siblings. To me, you're the little sister I never had. To Taichi, TK is his little brother." I looked sadly at TK. "I still remember a time where I thought Taichi would be better at protecting him."

Hikari reassured me with a smile. "You're a great brother, Yamato. TK looks up to you."

I nodded and looked at the clock on the nightstand. "We should get to bed. We can't have TK waking up and seeing the two of us exhausted and worried. He has a very guilty conscious."

She left the room and woke up her brother on the couch. "Taichi! I'm done."

Taichi looked up at the two of us. "What? Oh, right." Hikari went into her room and the brown-haired boy smirked at me. "Interesting, huh?"

I looked at him confused. "What?"

"They're not like us." He smirked. "TK is more open with what he thinks. Hikari is more rational than me. And one last thing, I wouldn't mind having TK as a younger brother."

The two of us began to get competitive over who was better as a big brother. It was friendly but also dumb. "I wouldn't mind having Kari as a little sister."

The two of us smiled at each other. We heard a door open and Sora came out. She rubbed her eyes. "Man, you guys are loud. You guys can settle that tomorrow. I'm trying to sleep."

I chuckled in embarrassment. "Sorry, Sora."

Taichi and I walked to our respective rooms. Taichi stuck out his tongue. "Video game competition tomorrow. You and me and whoever wants to get in our way!"

I nodded. "Right after we check on TK though."

The two of us chuckled and closed our doors. I sat back on the bed and took out a photo of me and TK when we were younger.

I placed it on the nightstand and got under the covers. "Yeah, TK. You grew up. You'll always be my brother. You're just not little anymore." I quickly fell asleep and thought nothing more of it.


	9. Hope's Recovery

Notes: The end! Okay, I kind of suck at endings, but the main thing here is that TK is all better. Now that I'm done, I'm taking a break from writing. I need more ideas to push forward another story idea I have.

* * *

~DAISUKE~

I sat at the desk with a pencil in my hand. I stared at the weekend's math assignment that I had failed to do. I stared at the wall clock and felt bored. The homework was going nowhere. I knew how to do it, but I didn't have the drive to complete it.

I turned to look at TK. "You're lucky you don't have to do this right now." I frowned. That wasn't helping him recover. "Sorry, TK." I looked back at my homework and decided to do it later.

I stood up and stretched. I left the room to get some fresh air. I shut the door behind me and looked at the quiet living room. I smirked as I remembered yesterday's video game tournament.

We were playing a melee game that held four players at once. Our tournament consisted of Taichi, Yamato, me, Sora, Koushiro, Hikari, Miyako, and Ken. First we did team matches and Ken and I had won. When we did free-for-all, Sora managed to kill me without breaking a sweat. She won ultimate victory over Taichi and Yamato. The two were too intent on killing each other that's why.

I went into the kitchen to make myself a snack. I found an orange and peeled it carefully with a knife. I cleaned the knife and walked back into the room with the citrus. Poyomon came in after me and I gave him small piece.

I sat back in my chair and leaned back. "You know, Poyomon," I began with a bit of the fruit in my mouth. "TK is really a great partner. You're pretty great yourself. I admit that you two are stronger, but Veemon and I are a strong team too." TK stirred and I turned around to look at him.

Poyomon finished his piece and I carried him to TK. "There you are. Yeah, TK, I admitted it. But it's okay. Veemon and I will just try harder! That's what makes the two of us rivals. One day, we'll decide who the ultimate victor is. Until then, I'll just settle things with small competitions." I suddenly had an idea. "A video game tournament! I need to have a rematch against Sora anyways. How about that, TK? Sound good?" TK's face had a small smile on it. I didn't know how to take it.

Poyomon looked up at me and I smiled. I left the room to wash my hands. I stared at the digi-eggs that lay on the living room table. I checked to make sure that they were okay. I lifted up Veemon's dark blue egg. "Here's the plan, Veemon. I vow on these goggles that one day we'll match TK's heart."

* * *

~IORI~

I did the work that was to be assigned today. It was a good thing I got the assignments beforehand. I didn't really want to fall behind on my classes. The work was straightforward enough. I only had a review math sheet and a book to read.

I closed the book that I was reading to Poyomon. The baby digimon fell asleep on TK. I smiled and looked at my DNA partner. His peaceful face made me feel guilty for thinking he was truly dark. "I'm sorry, TK. I should have known better than to doubt you. But, you were really intense. You wanted to destroy the Darkness without knowing it was us you were trying to fight."

I picked up the book I had been reading. It was written in English and it reminded me of why I had thought that way. The story was about a confused boy who had turned his back on everything. He wanted to do what was right, but the way he did it contradicted his beliefs. But that wasn't TK. TK didn't know. He was tricked into hurting us.

Poyomon stirred slightly but stayed asleep. I petted his head. "You two aren't dark. If any of us were to be dark, it wouldn't be the two of you. You're Hope." I thought about it a little bit deeper. "But then Hope comes from Darkness. Hope gives Light. That's a bit contradicting. Maybe we all are dark, but we don't act upon it. That seems fairer. We're all dark, but you want to be Hope so we don't have to fall into the Darkness." My head was starting to hurt and I was confusing myself.

Poyomon woke up and blinked. "Oh, sorry, Poyomon. I was just thinking. Do you think everyone has a dark heart? Not evil, just darkness that is controlled by hope."

The small digimon shook his head. He looked at TK and looked back at me. "You think everyone has a light heart?" He nodded vigorously. "But where does that light come from? It comes from Hope that comes from Darkness, right?"

Poyomon frowned and crawled onto TK. He stopped right where TK's heart should be. "You choose with your heart?" Poyomon nodded slowly. "But how do you know which side to choose?" Poyomon faced TK's Crest. I understood only a bit. "Okay, I'll just stop thinking about it. These things get too confusing in the end, right?" Poyomon looked at me, confused. I guess he thought so too.

* * *

~MIYAKO~

I was getting bored out of my mind. I could try talking to the unconscious boy, but that would make me feel dumb. I couldn't bother Poyomon because he was sleeping. I should have brought more things with me to do. I flipped through my history textbook and grimaced at the contents. I didn't feel like studying.

I heard a noise outside and I decided to investigate. I opened the door leading out of the bedroom. The digi-eggs caught my eye. A light orange one was rocking and I decided to look closely at it. I reached it as it hatched into a Botamon. I smiled at him and noticed that the others were also hatching.

Gennai entered the room at that time and smiled at them all. "I guess we'll have to tell the rest of the Digidestined."

I nodded and e-mailed them the news. It was a little after noon and they wouldn't be able to see it until later. The digimon followed me back into TK's room. They looked at TK sadly.

"It's not your fault. It was his choice to save all of us. We should be thanking him, not feeling bad." Poyomon had gotten up when he saw us enter the room. I brought TK's partner gently to the ground and he was able to play with them.

I watched them to make sure they wouldn't get hurt. I laughed a little and saw TK twitch his fingers. "I wish you could see this, TK. They're all so adorable." I paused when the digimon stopped playing to see TK. "Come on, we can't all worry about him. He's doing fine."

Punimon and Poyomon looked at each other and frowned at me. "Okay, you can worry. But you can't let it bother you. He did his very best to protect you. Poyomon, you should understand. You helped TK save us, remember?"

The small digimon nodded and got a few of the others to play. Pururumon wanted to sit with me so I lifted up my partner and placed him on my lap. "We have to look at the bright side of things. That's what TK always does." I stared at the sleeping boy and smirked. "Remember? He said that he wanted all of us to have a little bit of his hope. We can't give it up just because the bearer of Hope is down. We'll use it to help bring him up!" Poyomon jumped up in agreement and I laughed again. The others agreed with me and got back into their small game that I didn't understand.

* * *

~KEN~

I placed the textbooks on the nightstand. "You'll have to make this all up, TK. Daisuke, Hikari, and I will help though. You have nothing to worry about at school." I sat down and lifted up Leafmon. "What do you think, Leafmon?"

My partner sort of smiled and looked at the other baby digimon. They all wanted to stay here so they could keep Poyomon company. The others thought it was a good idea since we couldn't exactly take care of all of them back home. Gennai was okay with watching them for us.

I checked the time and decided to make them food. "I think Gennai has rice. I can make something nice for you all."

In the kitchen, I checked the refrigerator for ingredients. The pantry was filled with a lot of foods and I found the rice. Leafmon followed me with Tsubumon and Pitimon. "Do you want to help?" They eagerly nodded.

I had them help with washing the rice grains, vegetables, and meat. I finally had the rice cooker set up. I turned it on and it began to cook the rice they finished washing. I checked the stove to make sure it was working fine. "Okay, I can handle the rest by myself. You guys can go back. Lunch will be ready soon."

I was able to cook quickly. The aroma was mouthwatering. I didn't know it spread to as far as TK's room. The digimon had rushed out to see if I was done. I was carrying the plates of food to the dining table. They jumped in anticipation and that surprised me. "Hey! Be careful. It's hot."

I set out twelve plates of food for them and they began to eat carefully. I didn't join them because I wanted to check on TK. The blonde wrapped himself in his blanket and slept on his side. He was breathing slowly as if savoring the food's aroma. "You can't be serious, TK. I would try to offer you some of my lunch, but I can't really feed you."

I sat down and looked out the door. "The digimon are happy. They stay here for Poyomon _and_ you. You're a hero." I smiled. "It was weird to see you evil. You chose it without realizing. But you were able to understand it better than me. I did it selfishly." I frowned when I tried to compare him with the Digimon Emperor. "You called yourself the Protector while I made myself Emperor. You still are the Protector of the Digital World. I'm just one of the Digidestined." A few had finished eating and wanted more. I got up and decided I should enjoy lunch with them too.

* * *

~MIMI~

I felt bad seeing TK in bed. He moved every once in a while, but they were small and insignificant. Every time he stirred, Poyomon would look up expectantly. I had to calm him down a few times because he was getting restless over TK's recovery.

DemiVeemon held the tiny digimon back. "It'll be okay, Poyomon! TK will be up in a week."

I picked up TK's partner and smiled at him. "We all know how TK can be. He won't give up. He's already making progress in getting better. Gennai said so himself."

I looked at the blonde boy. He gripped the blanket tightly. He was probably imagining it to be his partner. I laughed nervously because if that really were Poyomon, he would have been squished. "He's doing okay. We just need to make sure he will be strong enough when he wakes up."

It was already afternoon and a few of the others decided to visit. "Mimi! How are TK and the digimon?" Taichi entered the room and saw Koromon.

Jou and Sora came in afterwards. "Don't you think he'll cook himself under those covers?" Jou made his way to the bed and checked TK's temperature. He tried wrenching the blanket from TK's grip but failed. "Hey, I'm trying to help you!"

TK responded by getting himself lost under the blankets. We were only able to see his messy hair sticking out in the end. Sora and I laughed. Sora knelt down beside the mix of Fresh and In-Training digimon. "You guys are being good, right? We can't have you all bothering TK. He's already weakened by the darkness he hates."

Jou sat next to his Pitimon. "Yeah, but he doesn't let it get to him most of the time." He paused and turned to me. "Why did you think we couldn't do anything to help him?"

I frowned at the doctor's assistant. "Apocalymon wanted him destroyed. Our digimon were reverted back into eggs. What could we do but let TK fight alone? We cheered him on and that was enough for TK." Sora nodded in agreement.

"He'll always be our source of hope. If he's gone, we'll have to carry it on."

* * *

~JOU~

I had spent most of the morning trying to get TK out of that mess of blankets. Bukamon just laughed at my attempts. "Jou! Just leave him!"

"He might overheat! I'm trying to save his life."

"Just leave him alone. He'll be fine. If he gets hot, he'll be able to take off the blankets himself."

I sat down, exasperated. "Fine, but I won't take the blame when Yamato freaks out over his brother's health."

The other In-Training digimon gathered around me. Tokomon jumped up. "Aren't the others going to come? It's Saturday!"

I nodded. "They'll be over around three. They have things to do before they can arrive." I leaned back in my chair and opened up a medical book. "I have to study too."

Bukamon forced me to close my book. "Let's just talk and have fun, Jou!"

"About what?" I answered with a smile.

"Well, why did TK do what he did for us? He could have just given up his Hope, but he went head on against Apocalymon."

Tanemon answered him first. "TK is just as reliable as Jou! He couldn't have all of us try to fight off the digimon when he knew we couldn't protect our partners."

The majority agreed with Tanemon. I looked at all of them. "He _is_ just as reliable as me. He's just too nice sometimes. We all know how his life has been. He was the youngest and smallest out of all of us in the beginning. Now he's one of the strongest and kind-hearted."

Tokomon jumped up. "Without TK, we'd be lost and without a guide."

I smiled because that was exactly right. "We all need Hope to guide us. If we all fall into despair, we can't activate our Crest powers because we wouldn't know how to. Hope is something you have to have to make it through anything and everything."

TK let go of the blankets and I helped him cool down a little. His face had a small smile. I guess he understood these things better than us.

* * *

~KOUSHIRO~

It was Sunday and that meant that TK would almost be up. Just a few more days and he'll be the same as before. The digimon were getting restless, especially Tokomon. "Is he up yet?"

I had to take him off the bed so TK would have room on the bed. The digimon had been bouncing around everywhere he could.

"He'll be up when he's ready. You can't rush a recovery. It's not good for anyone's health."

Motimon smiled at the white digimon. "Don't worry, Tokomon. We all want to see TK get better."

Yamato rushed into the room when he arrived. "Is he awake yet?" The older boy carried his guitar case and set it down.

"No, Yamato. Calm down; you're just as bad as Tokomon."

Tsunomon bounded over to his partner. "Koushiro says that TK will be up soon."

I laughed nervously. "Soon being a few days, Tsunomon. Gennai said about two weeks." I glanced at the bedridden blonde. "He will be alright, that's not a doubt, but we still have to wait."

Yamato took a seat. "How is your research coming along?"

I shrugged. "Pretty good, but TK would know more about that stuff. Jou said so too. TK knows a lot about the Darkness because he comes from there."

Yamato frowned. "TK isn't dark."

Tokomon agreed too. "TK loves the light!"

I nervously tried to explain. "We know he isn't dark. But he isn't light either. He's in between. Anyone can have hope; it just depends on what for though. TK uses it to help everyone he cares about."

Yamato calmed down a little. "That's why they tried to take him over."

I nodded. "If we didn't have Hope, we would have lost. But TK still wanted to believe in the best for us. He didn't really want to fight us."

Yamato glanced at his little brother and smiled. "That's TK for you."

* * *

~TAICHI~

I sighed in relief. I got to skip school today. It was a good thing too. I didn't study for a test we were having today. Yamato will have to take it though.

I watched Agumon play with Tokomon. The two were wrestling and the rest of the digimon cheered them on. "Come on, Tokomon!"

I sided with Tokomon because I wanted the others to get strong too. "Don't leave anything open, Tokomon."

Agumon fell backwards and rubbed his head. "That was a nice headbutt!"

Tokomon helped up my partner. "That was fun! Who's going next?"

Biyomon offered to help the In-Training digimon. "You're going to have to try to catch me, Tokomon." Biyomon flew up and dive-bombed the digimon.

Tokomon dove out of the way and I encouraged him to try harder. "Don't back away, Tokomon! Face it with courage burning in your heart!"

"Like TK?"

I looked over at the mentioned boy. He had on determined grin and I nodded. "Yeah!"

Tokomon jumped up and pounced on Biyomon. "I did it!" He helped Biyomon up and looked up at his sleeping partner. "I wish you could watch us, TK. I'm getting stronger!" He looked at all of us. "We all are!"

I smiled and laughed. "We just need to have courage to face the dangers. You did just that, TK. I thank you for that. If you didn't fight for us, we all could have died."

TK shifted and covered his face with the blanket. "Being modest? I'm just kidding, TK. I wish you can hear me. All of us really want to thank you for your sacrifice."

Agumon climbed up. "It was the bravest thing we have ever seen. I can see why Taichi is relieved knowing Hikari is safe with you instead of himself."

I was taken aback. "Agumon!" The others laughed. "But it's true. You're a great kid, TK. Yamato and I trust you completely."

* * *

~SORA~

I toyed with my tennis racquet and stared at the small Ping-Pong table Gennai brought in here for the digimon. They were having fun with playing the game without paddles. I was being referee.

"Point to Hawkmon!"

The bird jumped up in triumph. "Right! Miyako would be proud."

Tentomon tried to get him to calm down. "It just isn't fair that you're sort of flying."

"You can fly, too, Tentomon," Biyomon pointed out.

"Hey, calm down," I said. "Who's playing next?"

Veemon jumped up and down. "I want to try! I want to impress Gatomon!"

Gatomon frowned. "I'll play so I can convince the sorry digimon that I'm not interested."

"Why?" Veemon began to get teary-eyed. He became determined again. "If I win, you'll have to kiss me!"

Tokomon laughed. "I want to watch! There is no way Gatomon will lose."

Gatomon sighed. "I guess I'll play. If you lose though, you leave me alone!"

The match began and Gatomon moved quickly. She didn't give Veemon a chance to relax. The ball always went back to Veemon's side as soon as it reached her.

Veemon was exhausted and he stopped. "Too tired!" He collapsed and fell asleep.

I looked at TK to see if he was alright. He had a huge smile on his face. "Don't laugh, TK. That's how Daisuke was about Hikari, remember? You're still keeping that promise you made to me all those years ago? You really must love her a lot." The digimon laughed at that.

"TK likes everyone!" Tokomon said. "Especially Hikari!"

Gatomon snickered. "Hikari likes him a lot too!" We all laughed quietly.

* * *

~YAMATO~

It was my turn today. I was dreading it, but now I'm okay with it. It was just going to be me and my little brother. And all of the digimon, of course.

They were crowded around me and my guitar. "Play another song, Yamato!"

I looked at Palmon and nodded. "Okay." I began to strum a few notes on my guitar. They all relaxed and enjoyed the music as I concentrated on the rhythm.

I stopped after a while and looked at TK. "You had us worried, TK."

Gatomon crossed her arms. "Not all of us."

Gabumon laughed nervously. "It was just you who was worried, Yamato."

I smirked. "Everyone was worried. You all were too when you couldn't do a thing to help him."

They looked away, ashamed. I apologized. "Sorry. I didn't mean it that way. I'm just relieved that my little brother is going to be all right." I sat back and played a song that I remembered as a kid. "This would sound nicer on my harmonica."

Gabumon shifted and handed it to me. "I still have it, Yamato."

I took the fragile instrument from him. "Wow, this is great. How about I play it for old time's sake, eh?" I placed it to my lips and blew a soothing melody throughout the room.

The digimon stared at me in awe. I glanced over at TK and he was sort of responding to the sound. His fingers twitched slightly and I played another tune.

I finished the song and looked at everyone. They chattered on about the beautiful melody. "That was great, Yamato!"

I chuckled lightly. "It's been a while since I played that. TK used to always love the sound of the harmonica."

Gabumon sat back down. "All of our friends did, Yamato."

Tokomon nodded in agreement. "It helped us during the night."

* * *

~HIKARI~

I was glad it was Thursday. That meant that tomorrow was Friday. TK would also wake up around that time.

I took out our homework and placed it with the other books and assignments. "You're going to need a lot of help to catch up, TK."

Gatomon climbed onto the chair I was sitting in. "I don't see the point of homework. You learn the stuff at school, don't you?"

I nodded and explained the concept to her. "Homework gives you extra practice with the subject, Gatomon. You learn it, but you also have to remember it."

"Like how TK practices basketball to get better and Taichi plays with that hacky sack for soccer?"

I nodded. Tokomon got up and climbed up the bed. "TK's going to wake up soon, right?"

"In a few days. Around tomorrow or Saturday, Tokomon," I reassured him. "It won't be long." I sat back and stared at TK's innocent smile. He was taking so long to recover.

I looked at the digimon and they wanted to go outside to play. Armadillomon found a soccer ball. "Let's go play!" They ran out with the ball and left me alone. Gennai saw them rush out the door and decided to follow them.

I sighed. "Well, TK. You're pretty special. You had all of the Digidestined watching you. The others can't wait to see you. I'm sorry I didn't visit you during the weekend or after school. I just didn't want to see you hurt, because you're my best friend, you know that. It made me feel like it was my fault." I leaned onto the bed and put my head down on the covers. I looked up at TK's sleeping face.

"You remind me a lot of an angel. Like our digimon. That seems odd to me, but you're just always there. Someone we all can count on." I laughed lightly. "I always see you behind me, watching me. Just because I'm Light you protect me from harm. Yamato thinks that you won't be the same as before. That can't be true. You'll always be TK to me." I sat back up. "The two of us are always Light and Hope. The ones necessary for the Digital World to exist."

* * *

~TAKERU~

I just floated in the same nothingness as before. The boy was still crying and I had to kneel down to see what was wrong. "He was supposed to come back!"

I frowned. "What's wrong?"

"You saved the world but my friend still didn't come back!"

I tried to think. "Who is your friend?"

"Takeru! I miss him!" The boy wiped his eyes.

"But you're TK. I'm TK, too."

The boy just began to cry again. He shook his head. "You're not TK! You're supposed to be Takeru. Takeru is smart and a hero. TK is just a kid."

I scowled. "You're not just a kid. You're Hope! Don't say that about yourself. I'm not Takeru!" I didn't mean to shout, but it was something I had to get across.

I looked at the small boy and he stopped sniveling. "But you can't be TK because I'm TK. You're smarter and stronger than me."

"No, we're the same."

"We can't be the same because you're older and know more. You know the truth of Hope. I'm just a kid that is trying to be Takeru."

"I'm not Takeru!" I stood up and looked down at my younger self. "What can I do to convince you that I'm still TK?" I looked around and saw a mirror. Our reflections shocked me.

I was comparing myself to the little boy. I was taller by a lot. My eyes had lost a little bit of its innocence because of how fast I had to grow up in the Digital World. My hair was as messy as ever. Our smiles were different. TK's was genuine while mines hid pain.

The little boy looked up at me. "See? You can't be TK anymore."

I stared at the two reflections. I was scared of my new self but why? Was it because I didn't want to be strong? Or was it because I loved the sheltered life TK had? What is it that I want now?

"TK, you're still me, right?"

The small boy nodded. "You're different from me though. You're strong enough to protect all of our friends. They care about you and miss you."

I knew that. I felt them speaking to me a few times. They needed me to be with them. I didn't want to go back as Takeru though. I didn't want to give up on little TK.

TK looked up at me. "You're not giving me up. You'll still have me in you. You just need to be strong, Takeru!"

I smiled wryly at him. "Okay, I guess I should get going. I'll see you, TK." Things began to materialize around me.

I sat up slowly in the fluffy bed. The others had fallen asleep in the chairs they sat in. I got the heavy covers off of me. I climbed down and tried to stand up. I stumbled a bit but was caught.

"Easy there, little brother. You haven't been walking in two weeks." Yamato smiled at me.

"Thank you." I leaned my weight on him as I got used to supporting myself. He let go of me for a while and I was able to take a few steps.

A few of them had woken up. They made no noise as I tried to make my way to the door. "Where's Seraphimon?" I looked around for my digimon.

Taichi rubbed his eyes and stretched. "Tokomon is outside asleep."

I held onto a chair as I shuffled forward. Jou and Iori got up to help me, but I refused to accept it. "I can do it."

Daisuke yawned loudly. "What gives? It's only three in the morning. And it's Saturday." He saw me trying to walk. "TK!" That woke up the rest of the group.

I shook my head. "Not TK anymore. I grew out of that."

Hikari frowned at me. "Okay, what do we call you?"

I smirked crookedly. "Takeru Takaishi!"

They looked at me oddly. Sora smiled at me. "You grew up a lot, Takeru."

I still tried to walk alone. Things were getting easier. "Yeah, I did."

"Are you sure you don't' need help, Takeru?" Koushiro was trying to hold himself back when I almost fell.

"I'm good. Thanks for asking though." I finally reached the door. I had one hand on the doorknob and another trying to support myself.

Miyako looked at me expectantly. "We can open the door for you, TK."

I shook my head and tried to put a little more weight on my legs. It was uncomfortable but I got used to it. I turned the doorknob and saw the living room. "Where am I?"

Mimi laughed a little. "We're in Gennai's house."

I walked out and examined the room. The dark was illuminated by a nightlight that was plugged into the wall. I blinked and my eyes adjusted to the lighting. I saw my digimon sleeping peacefully on the couch.

"Tokomon," I whispered. "Hey, buddy. Wake up."

Tokomon opened his eyes slowly. "Takeru?" He jumped up. "Takeru!"

I hugged my partner. "Yeah, I'm okay. Sorry for making you worry so much."

The rest of the Digidestined came out with their digimon. They laughed as I looked around, confused. I was missing something. My head felt extremely light. "What am I missing?"

Hikari tossed me a white fabric and I looked down. "Your hat, Takeru."

I stared at it and smiled. I quickly placed it where it belonged. Tokomon climbed up and spent the remainder of the time on my head. "That's better, Takeru!"

Daisuke got to the television set and had the video games ready. "All right! Let's do this! Another tournament! Free for all!"

Taichi and Yamato laughed. Sora came behind them and tapped on their heads. "You're all going to lose again."

I smiled. "You lost to Sora, big brother?"

Yamato frowned. "I was too busy fighting Taichi. Let's go!"

Everyone laughed and Koushiro drew up a map for each round. Round one was a survival match and four would be eliminated. Then another four will lose by a racing mode of the game. The remaining eight will be challenged to a speed mode. The final four will have a brawl to the finish.

I laughed nervously as Hikari handed me the controls. "Scared, Takeru?"

I shook my head. I was going first against Jou, Daisuke, and her. "Just excited to have my Hope back." The survival match started and we all cheered loudly.

* * *

Final Notes: Now that I've reached the end, it's time for the ultimate review! I have an idea to write up a story that combines the younger versions of the characters and the 02 group. Before that, I have to write a story that introduces one of my own characters. Heheh, so much work. I'll just see how the idea goes. It might not happen like I said before, but just throwing the thought out there. Okay, go ahead and tell me your final thoughts about this story!


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